
Book 



fr5i 



THE 



FOUR WITNESSES: 



HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 

ON A NEW PRINCIPLE. 



DR ISAAC DA COSTA. 

OF AMSTERDAM. 



iKAXM-aTKI* FA 



DAVID DUNDAS SCOTT, Esq. 



LOXDO X : 
JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERXERS STREET. 

M.PCCC.LI. 



i JS 



-*£ 









ERRATA. 

Page IOC, line 22, fur yoS/j<Wi/s read K-otyavrti*. 
" 114, " 13, " But what " Art i»/«rf, 
" 126, " 28, " Heysch. " Hesychius. 
" 148, " 10, 11, 12, col. 3, for 

And he stood over her 1 I And lie stood over Iter 

and rebnked tlie fever V read (Jmaras tirdva airrjs) 
(inava avTrjs). I and relinked the fever. 



PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION 



The work which is here presented to the English 
public is the result of a long and careful inves- 
tigation into the structure and contents, the dif- 
ferences and agreements, of the four Gospels 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. This result had been 
already obtained some years before the appear- 
ance, in Germany, of Strauss's Life of Jesus. 
When that unhappy book became known in Hol- 
land, the author of these pages communicated, 
first in a series of lectures, afterwards by means 
of the press, these observations on The Harmony 
of the Gospels, in the hope of thus refuting the 
German Doctor in the very points which he had 
attacked most strongly, and apparently with the 
most success. 

The English edition, now published under the 
title of The Four Witnesses, leaving unnoticed 
this immediate dispute with an infidel theology 



VI PKEFACE. 

or philosophy, gives so much the more fully the 
observations which demonstrate the authenticity, 
and perfect agreement in themselves, of these 
important books of the Holy Scriptures. This 
alone is the object aimed at in the English ver- 
sion of the work. 

May the publication be blessed to many souls 
in Great Britain ! and may the name of Jesus 
Christ, to whom all Scripture beareth witness, 
be everywhere glorified by the truth of His 
Word and the power of His Spirit ! 

Amsterdam, March 18, 1851. 



CONTENTS. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



Pagk 



Harmony and variations, not only of the style, but also in the de- 
tails themselves of the facts and doctrines contained in the four 
Gospels, ....... 1 

Unbelievers have availed themselves of these variations, . 2 

Variations in the statement of circumstances no proof against the 
truth of a testimony, . . . . .3 

This line of argument, however, not conclusive for inspired books : 
hence at various times Hai-monies of the Four Gospels have 
been attempted ...... 4 

Most of these Harmonies not based on satisfactory principles — 
an instance given, . . . . . 5, 6 

The differences not accidental, but necessarily resulting from the 
different points of view taken by the four Evangelists, in accor- 
dance with their individual characters, . . 7, 8, 9 



II. ST MATTHEW. 

In the Gospel of St Matthew alone, we find the expression Matthew 
the publican, . . . . . . 10, 11 

Luke alone mentions that Matthew left all to follow Jesus, 1 2 

The Avhole Gospel of Matthew specially marked by the character of 
a converted publican and called apostle, . . .13 

The fundamental tone of his Gospel — The humility and meekness 
of the Lord to be traced in the genealogy and in the name of 
Nazarene, . . . . . . 14, 15 

TVith all humility, he. however, never dissembles his apostolic 



Till CONTENTS. 



Page 



he gives particularly the calling and rules prescribed 
to the Apostles, and the promise of the kingdom to the Twelve, 15 

In this Gospel, homage is paid to the personal preference of St 
Peter, ....... 16 

Matthew an Apostle for and from Israel, . . .16 

The express appeal to the prophecies, and their accomplishment, 
his principal business; hence many of them are not repeated by 
the following Evangelists, . . . .17 

Everywhere in this Gospel allusions are made to passages and 
sayings of the Old Testament, and the words of their Master are 
frequently identified by the Evangelists with their own inspired 
conceptions, . . . . . .18 

The parable of the marriage-feast (Matth. xxii.), allusion to Prov. 
ix. 1-6, ...... 19 

St Matthew gives us not so much minute historical description as 
realized prophecy; hence, in accordance with the language of 
the prophets, the plural is frequently employed instead of the 
singular, .. . . . . .20 

The Messiah, represented by Matthew as the Great Prophet pre- 
dicted and prefigured, the Messiah King over Sion, Prince and 
Saviour of Israel and all nations, . . .21 

The sermon on the mount, the law of Christ, contrasted and har- 
monized with that of Moses, . . . .21 

The mode in which the Great Prophet was to teach, is shewn 
(xii. 16-20), ...... 22 

The saying, " This is Jesus the Prophet," . . .23 

Christ the King frequently called the Son of David ; represented as 
the King sitting in judgment, . . . .23 

He connects the kingship of Jesus with all the prophecies and 
whole history of Israel, . . . . .24 

With the royal glory the worship of the Saviour is closely con- 
nected, ....... 25 

What is to be understood when we speak of the Israelitic cha- 
racter of the Gospel, . . . . .25 

Not a rabbinical spirit, which may be seen from all that Matthew 
says about the Gentiles, . . . . .26 

Whether the original was written in Hebrew, . . 27 

The leading features of the four Gospels — St Matthew's language a 
child-like language — Frequent use of rore (then) — Repetitions — 



CONTENTS. IX 

Pagk 

At the same time his style is sometimes poetical, even rhyth- 
mical, ....... 28 

He frequently sets aside the time of their occurrence, and relates, 
according to a certain homogeneousness, miracles, parables, 
and sayings of our Lord, . . . . 29, 30 

Under the guidance of the Spirit, he writes all he heard, as he 
heard and beheld it, along with the impression that it made 
upon his mind, . . . . . .31 

Single illustrations are given, . . . .32 

The Gospel of St Matthew the mother Gospel, . . 33, 34 

Mutual dependence and independence of the four Evangelists, 37 

The restoration to life of the daughter of Jairus, . . 38 

The result of the former remarks with regard to the authenticity 
of St Matthew's Gospel, . . . . .45 

What St Matthew passes over in silence ; instances given — the 
temptation — the beheading of John the Baptist — the casting out 
of evil spirits in the country of the Gergesenes — the healing of 
the blind man near Jericho, .... 46-65 



III. ST MARK. 

The Gospel of St Mark written under the inspection of St Peter, 66 
Mark commences the history of the Gospel with the preaching of 
the Baptist — he mentions such circumstances as must have 
been particularly interesting to the heart and memory of St 
Peter, ....... 67 

Is St Mark the John Mark of the Acts ? . . .69 

The transfiguration on the mount preceded by the apostolical 
confession of the Messiahship of Jesus, and followed by the 
account of the healing of the lunatic child, according also to 
St Matthew and St Luke, .... 70-82 

St Mark's Gospel, when compared with that of St Matthew, dis- 
tinguished by curtailment, and, in some points, greater fulness 
in the development of what he retains ; — sayings, quotations, 
chiefly from the prophets, are omitted ; — as the two first chap- 
ters of St Matthew and St Luke, and the sermon on the mount ; 
a few similitudes only given ; the woes uttered against the Pha- 
risees and against Clmrazin not mentioned, . . 84 



X CONTENTS. 

Page 

St Mark presents us with five narratives which are not recorded 
by St Matthew, ...... 85 

He is chiefly distinguished from St Matthew by a striking exu- 
berance in details, . . . . .87 

So that he always gives us the most minute and graphic deli- 
neations — Sometimes a single word is strengthened, repeated, or 
transposed ; the identical words uttered by Jesus in the Ara- 
maean tongue preserved, . . . . .89 

Single instances given, ..... 90-94 

Not only by a parenthesis, but also by the intercalation of a single 
word, he gives a fresh colouring to his predecessor's narra- 
tive, ...... 95-97 

The same is done by merely transposing the phrase . .98 

Sometimes he employs a more characteristic, or more graphic word 
or phrase, . . . . . .99 

Or a leading word in a phrase is repeated, . . 99-101 

How the saying, " The style is the man," is applicable to St Mark, 103 
St Matthew and St Mark compared one with another ; in the first 
we have the Eastern and Israelitic life, element, and principle — 
in St Mark the Western and Eoman element, . .104 

St Mark a Roman by birth, . . . .105 

He employs Latin words in a Greek form, . . .106 

The night in this Gospel divided into four watches, . 106, 107 

Mark vii. compared with Matthew xv. 1, . . .108 

Why the woes are left out by St Mark, . . .109 

St Mark a Eoman by birth ; a soldier by profession, . 110 

Eapidity, exactness, and precision, in the statement of the details ; 
compression of style and copiousness of details ; Caesar's Com- 
mentaries compared, . . . . .112 

Mark xvi. 16 compared with Matthew xxviii. 19, . . 113 

Who is called a son in the faith of any of the Apostles? . 114 

A remarkable passage about a devout soldier (Acts x. 7), . 115 

The beginning and conclusion of St Mark's Gospel ; his narrative 

not improperly called a gospel-preaching of St Peter, . 117 

What is the portraiture of our Lord in St Mark's Gospel? . 117 
A fourfold testimony and a four-sided delineation given us by 

Divine wisdom, to picture Christ to the eye in all his fulness, 118 
In all the four gospels, all the different qualities or manifestations 
of the Lord are assumed to be equally substantial, but in the 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page 

various gospels we find standing out more prominently that 
quality which chiefly accords with the personality of the writer, 119 
In St Matthew, Christ is exhibited as the promised EMMANUEL 
— in St Mark, as man in all points like as we are, yet without 
sin, ....... 120 

The humanity of the Lord described in such words as "he sighed," 

" being grieved," " looking round," . . . 122 

The carpenter, the son of Mary (Mark vi. 3), . .123 

How his relatives contemplated his public teaching ; and details 

of our Lord's daily intercourse with his disciples, . .124 

St Matthew speaks more of the worship addressed to Jesus, Mark 
and Luke more of the prayers offered by Jesus ; Mark adds im- 
portant details of time and place, . . . .127 

The interventions in the Lord's miracles of healing, strongly brought 
forward by St Mark, . . . . .128 

St Mark fixes our attention on cures wrought by the Lord with 

his own spittle, touching with his hands or fingers, . 129 

Mark vii. 32, and viii. 22, contain narratives nowhere else men- 
tioned, ....... 130 

What is to be thought of the declaration Mark xiii. 32 ? . 131 

St Mark's Gospel comprises a double Apostolic testimony, . 133 

All the preceding remarks summed up, . . .133 

Application of the former remarks on the harmony of the Gospels, 136 
An organical development perceptible in the four Gospels, . 138 

The words of Jesus differently recorded by the different evangelical 
writers; the reason given, . . . .139 



IV. ST LUKE. 

In St Paul's epistles, again and again, mention is made of Luke as 
a Gentile, a physician, and a beloved and faithful fellow-labourer 
of the Apostle, . . . . . .141 

Acts xv. 40, 41 ; xvi. 9, 10, considered; Luke does not mention his 
own name, but indicates his presence by the words we and us, 143 

The physician to be recognised by the details with which the mala- 
dies are described, and indicated by their proper technical terms ; 
instances given, . . . . . .146 

The Saviour exhibited by him as the great Physician of Israel, 147 



Xll CONTENTS, 



Page 



St Luke alone has preserved the proverb, " Physician, heal thy- 
self," ....... 148 

The Greek proselyte to be recognised in his Gospel, . .148 

St Luke no eyewitness of the things he records in his Gospel, 
but for some time a proselyte to Judaism, and familiar with 
the religion and nation of Israel, . . . .149 

St Luke peculiarly the historian ; hence he gives us a continuous 
narrative, in chronological order, . . . .150 

He begins his narrative much further back, and concludes it with 
details of later date, than the others, . . .151 

He is very accurate in the giving of dates, and enters more fully 
than the others into the Jewish history of those times, . 152 

While the other evangelists keep their narratives more within the 
limits of Jewish history, Luke leads us also into the domain 
of general history, especially in the Book of Acts, . .154 

The most searching scrutiny of the two writings left us by St Luke 
has confirmed his correctness in every point, . . 156 

None but an accurate contemporary historian could give us such 
characteristic peculiarities, . . . .158 

In every discrepancy between the Gospel of St Matthew and that 
of St Luke we have the true order in the latter ; instances given ; 
Matthew and Luke compared together, especially with regard 
to the sermon on the mount, . . . .159 

A kindred spirit and tendency with St Paul to be found in St Luke ; 
his gospel has been called a Pauline gospel ; the institution of 
the Lord's supper as recorded by both ; 1 Cor. xv. 5 compared 
with Luke xxiv. 34. . . . . 167 

The forgiveness of sin, the righteousness by faith before God, may 
be called the gospel of St Paul; these to be found both in 
many similitudes and narratives of St Luke ; the parable of the 
prodigal son, . . . . . .169 

The pharisee and the publican ; Matt, xviii. 23-35 compared with 
Luke vii. 36-50, ..... 172 

In St Paul's writings the development of evangelical truth ends 
in the ascribing glory to God ; the same we find in St Luke, 173 

Rejoicing in faith by Paul ; in Luke, joy and rejoicing frequently 
mentioned, . . . . . . 175 

Predilection of both for the number three, . . .176 

The title of beloved specially applicable to St Luke. The word 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



Page 



friend (cpiXos) very frequently occurs in his Gospel; he neces- 
sarily had intercourse with many believers of all conditions and 
ages, ....... 178 

St Luke a Gentile by birth, a Jewish proselyte before he came to 
the knowledge of Christ — hence his familiar acquaintance with 
the laws and country of Israel, and his affection for that people ; 
instances given, . . . . .179 

Multiplicity of details with regard to the law of Moses and the 
constitution of Israel, . . . . .180 

Whilst he shews us the hopes which animated the hearts of true 
Israelites in those days, and recognises the prior claims of the 
Jews, he earnestly reproves their self-righteousness and then* 
national pride, . . . . .181 

He loves Jerusalem, but mentions also all the judgments pronounced 
upon her (Luke xix. 40-44 and xxiii. 27-31) ; until the times 
of the Gentiles be fulfilled, . . . .183 

He forgets not the blessings reserved for the Gentiles ; ii. 32 ; iii. 
23-28; iv. 25-27, ..... 184 

With him the whole sonl of Jesus is represented in the words (Acts 
x. 38): who went about doing good; rich diversity of cures, 185 

Recovery from sin, the malady of the soul ; instances given, . 186 

With sinners, publicans are associated ; the Samaritans spoken of 
in a friendly spirit, . . . . .187 

In a similar way he mentions the poor, . . . 188 

Women, in their diligence and love of God, particularly recorded by 
him ; instances given, . . . . .190 

Widows; iv. 25, 26 ; vii. 11-16 ; viii. 42 ; ix. 38 ; children, 192 

The Gospel of tenderheartedness and compassion also the Gospel 
of prayer, ...... 194 

The Lord himself set before us as praying, . . . 196 

The Gospel of St Luke emphatically a Gospel full of unction pro- 
ceeding from the Holy Ghost, . . . .198 

The representing of Jesus as the Anointed (Messiah, Christ), 200 

St Matthew and St Luke compared — Matth. iii. 7-10, Luke iii. 
7-9 ; Matth. xi. 21-23, Luke x. 13-15; Matth. xii. 39-45, 
Luke xi. 29-32, and 24-26; Matth. viii. 5, Luke vii. 1, 205 

Compared also in their mode of relating the words and declara- 
tions of our Lord ; in Luke we recognise the historian, in Mat- 
thew rather the apostle. . . . .208 



XIV CONTENTS, 

Page 

A summary given of the respective relations between the three 
first Gospels, ...... 209 

The parables ; the three Evangelists compared, . . 210 

The order in St Luke more chronological ; in St Mark the simili- 
tudes are more taken from public and professional, in Luke 
rather from domestic life ; some other differences given, . 211 

Matth. xiii. 33, Luke xiii. 20, 21; Matth. xviii. 12, 13, Luke xv. 
4-7; Matth. xxii. 2-14, Luke xiv. 16-24; Matth. xxv. 14-30, 
Luke xix. 12-28. .... 214, 218 

The similitudes of the sower on different kinds of ground, of the 
grain of mustard-seed, and of the wicked husbandmen, com- 
pared, as given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, . . 219 

A summary given of all the remarks hitherto made with regard 
to the Gospel of St Luke, . . . 223,227 

Y. ST JOHN. 

The writer of the fourth Gospel again an Apostle, one of the three 
specially chosen from the twelve, and out of these three the one 
specially beloved, . . . . .227 

His first writing is historical, his last one prophetical, . 228 

His Gospel is one from the height, and likewise from the depth, 229 

The Gospel and the Revelation glorify in heaven and on earth Him 
who is the First and the Last, . . . .231 

With the artlessnessof St Matthew, the terseness of St Mark, and the 
calmness of St Luke, a higher and more elevated tone is mingled, 233 

St John not only links narratives together, as the synoptical 
writers do, but pauses at every turn to give a reason, make an 
application, or to deduce consequences; instances given, . 234 

His Gospel no connected narrative of the Lord's sayings and 
doings, but rather a choice selection of the most remarkable 
manifestations of his Divine majesty, . . .237 

This Evangelist records no more than six miracles of Jesus, of 
which only one is to be found in the other three Gospels, . 238 

These, however, chiefly furnish occasion for communicating the 
reasonings, discourses, and conversations of Jesus, . 239 

Everywhere throughout this Gospel the Lord speaks . . 240 

Whereas in the other Gospels we find but here and there a single 
exclamation addressed by Jesus to God his Father, St John 



CONTENTS. XV 

Page 
gives us a solemn intercessory prayer, full of sublime truths and 
precious promises (xvi.), . . . .241 

In no other Gospel, when God is spoken of, does the name of 
" Father," " the Father," " my Father," occur so often, in 
special relation to Jesus, . . . .241 

Equality of Jesus with the Father, .... 242 

Men also make themselves chiefly known to us, in St John, by their 
words, ....... 244 

The title, the Word, only to be found in the writings of St John, 248 
Closely allied to it are such appellations as the Light, the Truth, 
the Life, ...... 249 

The appellation of only begotten Son, or the Only begotten, to be 
found exclusively in this Gospel, whilst the expression Son of God, 
or the Son, occurs here more frequently than anywhere else, 250 
A special application of the word glory (S6ga), . .251 

To be, or to exist, an expression indicating the Godhead of the 

Son ; His procession from the Father, . . .252 

The Lamb, alluding to Isaiah liii. 7, . . .253 

The Lifting up for the crucifixion of Jesus, . . .254 

Gift and giving ; the gift of God in this Gospel, . . 255 

The world (/coV/xo?) — its different significations, • . . 256 

Elucidations bearing on local circumstances ; precise statements 

of hours and days, and numbers in general, . . 258 

Great utility of this Gospel for fixing the times in the history of 

the life and work of the Lord on earth, . . . 259 

Through this Gospel alone can be made out the number of years 

occupied by our Lord's public labours on earth, . . 260 

St John gives very accurately and fully all the various preparatory 
incidents, down to the violent arrest and crucifixion of our 
Lord, . . . . . . .261 

He frequently communicates the commencement and the end of 
things, ....... 262 

Solemn and joyful tone of this gospel ; the festivals frequently men- 
tioned, ....... 263 

The same character of solemn festivity re-occurs in the book of 
the Kevelation, . . . . . .264 

Like St Matthew, St John is rich in passages adduced from Israel's 
prophets and the Psalms, that are scarcely cited by any other 
writer in the New Testament, . . . .266 



XVI CONTENTS. 



Page 



He points, also, attention to what was prophetical in the Lord's 
own words, . . . . . .267 

He shews how enemies themselves, without being conscious, 
uttered words with a prophetic sense, . . .268 

The Revelation commences with the same prophecy which closes 
the various narratives comprised in this Gospel of St John, 269 

The symbolical character of this Gospel, . . .270 

A high mystic character, equally affecting and sublime, . 271 

A Hebrew and Greek cast of thought united in this Gospel : the 
same to be found in the book of Revelation, . . 274 

Quite a new but not another gospel, in relation to the other three, 
after which it was written, . . . .275 

Proceeding on the assumption that the first three were known, 277 

Why the nomenclature of the twelve apostles is not given, nor 
the genealogy, nor the birth of our Lord at Bethlehem, nor his 
education at Nazareth, . . . . .278 

Under the form of metaphor, the similitudes of the other three 
Gospels are given, . . . . .279 

There is nowhere mentioned the casting out of devils, nor the 
Lord's temptation by Satan ; why ? . . .281 

How it is to be explained that St John communicates no pro- 
phecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, nor tells us what 
expectations were entertained of its final restoration, . 282 

Through the addition of particular circumstances in this Gospel, 
much is elucidated as regards the Synoptics, . . 283 

Jesus the Son of God, in St John, no other than Jesus the Messiah 
of the Synoptics, . . . . .284 

Great men differently, though faithfully, represented by different 
writers, . . . . . .285 

Diversity and unity between the portraits of the Lord in St John 
and in the first three Gospels — instances given, . . 286 

The Amen of Jesus in the first three Gospels always repeated : 
Amen, Amen, in St John, . . . .291 

A summary of the foregoing remarks, . . .294 

The name of the apostle St John nowhere given, but frequent men- 
tion made of one who lived in closest intimacy with Jesus, 295 

The disciple whom Jesus loved, . • . . .296 

St Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, the three most favoured 
witnesses of the passion and of the glory of the Lord, . 297 



CONTENTS. XVH 

Page 

Throughout one can recognise in this Gospel an eyewitness ; St 
John surnamed the son of thunder, . . .298 

Scientific doubts started twenty years ago by a learned man in 
Germany retracted, . . . . .299 

The first Epistle a practical abridgment of the Gospel, . 300 

The multiplying of the loaves, as recorded by all the Evangelists, 301 

VI. RESULT OF THE PRECEDING OBSERVATIONS. 

Perfect accordance among the Gospels, and authenticity and Divine 
origin of each, . . . . . .312 

Self-denial and humility animate all the writers, . . 313 

The tenor and contents of the writing discover the person and 
personal qualities of the writer, . . . .314 

The four Gospels not in unison but in harmony with each other, 315 
The order in which the four Gospels have been placed from the 
earliest ages the true order, . . . .316 

Each of the sacred writers sought and found nourishment in what 

had been written by his predecessors, . . .317 

The growth and development of God's revelation, . . 318 

Scripture in all its parts a work of Divine inspiration and of human 
operation, . . . . . .319 

The Holy Spirit gives us the whole truth in the four Gospels com- 
bined, but not in any one Gospel taken by itself, . . 320 
The apparent contradiction not be done away by fusing the several 

testimonies into the model of one single testimony, . . 320 

The true method again adverted to, . . .320 

General rules to be applied for obtaining the true harmony between 
the four Gospel witnesses, . . . .321 



VII. THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 



General remarks, .... 
The entrance into Jerusalem, 
The supper at Bethany, and the treason of Judas, 
The last supper of Jesus with his disciples, 
The agony in Gethsemane, 



324 
325 
334 

342 
359 



XV111 



CONTENTS. 



The apprehension of Jesus, . 

Jesus before the High Priest and the Jewish council, 

Jesus before Pilate and Herod, 

The crucifixion, .... 



Page 
364 
370 
386 
409 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 

On the original language of St Matthew's Gospel, . . 435 

On the reading of Luke iv. 8, . . . .438 

On Mark x. 12, . . . . .438 

On Mark vii. 3, . . . . . .439 

Quotations from Caesar's Comm. de Bello Gallico, . .439 

Remark on the word evOecos, .... 440 

The Centurion's faith not mentioned by Mark, . .441 

Note of Bengel on Mark xiii. 42, . . . . 442 

Eemark on the word Aceldama, .... 442 

The medical art in Syria, . . . . .443 

Quotation from Tholuck, ..... 443 

Quotation from Valckenaer, . . . . 443 

On the Sabbath SevrepoVpcorov, .... 444 

Sea-terms used by Luke, . . . . .444 

Wives of governors in the Roman provinces, . . 445 

The predictions of our Lord respecting the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, Matth. xxiv. 1-30, Mark xiii. 1-26, Luke xxi. 5-27, 446 
Remark on the Lord's taking the cup after supper, . . 455 

Jesus Christ the Searcher of men's hearts, . . .456 

Faith working by love, . . . . .456 

Grotius ascribes to St Luke the Epistle to the Hebrews, . 457 

The casting out of the Son in the parable of the vineyard and the 
husbandmen, . . . . . .457 

The Gospel of St John written after the destruction of Jerusalem ; 

the time and place of the writing of all the four Gospels, . 458 
The genuineness of the Apocalypse, . . . .462 

On some particulars of Peter's denial of Christ, . . .464 

Remarks on the Gospel narratives of our Lord's burial and resur- 
rection, . . . . . .465 

Remarks on the two genealogies of our Lord, . . .471 



THE 



FOUR WITNESSES. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



I. INTRODUCTION. 



Oxe has only to read with some attention the inspired 
quaternion of our Gospels, in order to perceive, on the 
one hand, their general harmony in point of facts and 
doctrines, but, at the same time, those numerous variations, 
on the other hand, by which the whole four are distin- 
guished from each other. These variations are not con- 
fined to difference of style and language ; they extend to 
the details themselves of the facts, doctrines, and dis- 
courses which they have recorded for us. AVe frequently 
find events, circumstances, sayings, quotations, and details 
of all sorts, put down in one or more of the Gospels, but 
not mentioned at all, or at least considerably abridged, 
or merely noticed by way of allusion, in another. In their 
relations of the same event, we find in the several Evan-* 
gelists a difference, sometimes in the numbers given, some- 
times in the order of time, sometimes in the connexion of 



2 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

facts and words. Thus, to take one example from the mul- 
titude of such variations that might be adduced, the Gospel 
of St Matthew speaks of the cure of two blind men, while 
those of St Mark and St Luke speak of only one} Thus, 
too, St Mark, in the prediction of St Peter's denying our 
Lord, speaks of the cock's crowing twice, while the other 
three Evangelists make mention of this same crowing of 
the cock as foretold and heard only once. 2 Thus, once 
more, our Lord's Prayer is placed in St Luke quite in a 
different connexion from that in which it appears in St 
Matthew. 3 Thus, in like manner, the appearing of our 
Lord after his resurrection to the women, in St Matthew, 4 
is related, in St Mark and St John, 5 as having fallen to 
the lot of Mary Magdalene. Where should we end 
were we to set about noting here the whole of these 
variations, some of more, others of less importance % 

It was quite to be expected that unbelievers in every 
age should have sought to avail themselves of these dis- 
crepancies or contradictions, real or apparent, for the 
purpose of attacking the genuineness and authenticity of 
these sacred writings, and the very truth itself of the 
evangelical history. In our own days in particular, and 
chiefly in Germany, attempts have been made to deduce 
systematically, not only that it is impossible to believe that 
such contradictory narratives could have been inspired, 
but further, that we cannot possibly assign an historical 
origin to those great facts on which, as such, rests the 
entire truth of the New Testament revelation and of the 
Bible itself. 



1 Matth. xx. 30; Mark v. 46; Luke xviii. 35. 

2 Mark xiv. 30; Matth. xxvi. 34; Luke xxii. 34; John xiii. 38. 
" Matth. xi. 9; Luke xi. 1. * Matth. xxviii. 9. 
s Mark xvi. 9; John xx. 1-17. 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

And as regards this last conclusion, learned and inge- 
nious defenders of Revelation in general, and of the 
authenticity of the books of the New Testament in 
particular, have long since shewn, with great success, 
how, on the contrary, those differences, for the most part 
comparatively slight, and in the details, only make the 
agreement of the evangelical witnesses on the principal 
facts themselves all the more striking. One celebrated 
apologist, amongst others, of the authenticity of the New 
Testament, has very justly remarked, that the truth of 
human testimony manifests itself in most cases precisely 
by some variation in the statement of circumstances, 
provided there be agreement in the main. In proof of 
this, we need but go to the courts of law and justice, as 
is remarked by the writer just quoted. 1 Too perfect an 
uniformity in the declarations of different witnesses makes 
one rather suspect that these declarations are the result 
of previous arrangement among them ; on the contrary, 
discrepancies occurring on minor points, in the mouths of 
witnesses, are regarded as a proof of the substantial truth 
of their declarations with respect to the main fact, the 
reality of which is sought to be ascertained. 

We arrive at the same result for the defence of the 
historical truth of the Gospel, when we compare together 
those authors whose credit is best established for profane 
history. Shall we question their historical honesty, or 
the reality of the facts in general related by them, because 
of some discrepancy, even though a serious one, occurring 
here and there in matters of detail ? On comparing the 
accounts left us by Polybius and Livy of Hannibal's 
passage over the Alps, a difference occurs which has given 
rise to eight different conjectures as to the precise track 

1 Palcv. 



4 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

followed by the celebrated general in that memorable 
expedition. But has it ever been concluded from this 
discrepancy, that the passage of the Alps was not a real 
historical fact, or that Livy, or Polybius, is not a trust- 
worthy historian \ 

Certainly such a line of argument is sufficient, in general, 
for the defence of the truth of the evangelical history 
against doubts and objections deduced from discrepancies 
among the four witnesses. But shall we say that this 
reasoning is equally conclusive, when what we have to 
defend is the inspiration and the infallibility of those 
same writings'? In fact, if the four Gospels do really 
differ on so many details, bearing upon the order, the 
number, the expressions of the speakers and of the Lord 
himself, still it would remain possible to defend the his- 
torical truth of the Gospel in general, but it would no 
longer • be possible to defend a Divine inspiration ; for 
that we must hold to be incompatible with palpable 
errors, inaccuracies, and contradictions. 

It has been with the view, therefore, of shewing that 
in reality those alleged contradictions, errors, and inac- 
curacies are apparent only, that from the earliest ages of 
the Church attempts have been made to draw up what 
have been called Harmonies of the four Gospels. Un- 
happily, by far the most of these Harmonies, for want of 
any principle of solution drawn from the very nature and 
organical construction of these writings, have contributed 
rather to embarrass than to resolve the problem, owing to 
the purely mechanical and forced manner in which its 
solution has been attempted. Hence, when two or more 
Evangelists relate one and the same event in a different 
order as respects the connexion, it has been found most 
convenient to suppose that the same event had actually 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

• 

occurred more than once ; or, when several of the Evan- 
gelists/relate what was said by the Jews, the Apostles, 
and the Lord himself, with some variations in the literal 
expression, it has sometimes been thought that we cannot 
do better than accumulate all of them together, which 
ordinarily gives a meaning overcharged, heavy, one may 
even say absurd. And so in other cases. Some authors 
of Harmonies, learned and ingenious men, from not pos- 
sessing the true key, have fallen upon this awkward and 
embarrassed mode of reconciling the Gospels. Nothing 
more common, for example, than the forced reconciliation 
of the narrative of St Matthew (xxvii. 44) and that of 
St Mark (xv. 32), on the one hand, with that of St Luke 
(xxiii. 39), respecting the converted thief on the cross. 
St Matthew and St Mark, speaking in general terms of 
the hind of persons who blasphemed the Lord Jesus on 
the cross, ascribe this outrage, among others, to the thieves 
(in the plural) crucified along with our Lord. St Luke, 
on the contrary, presenting the history in its amplest 
details, ascribes the blasphemy, not to both malefactors, 
but only to one, who was forthwith reproved by the other ; 
and that other's prayer of faith and happy end are at the 
same time related to us. Now, instead of perceiving the 
perfect accordance which, viewed in this light, exists be- 
tween the two narratives, provided we do not slavishly 
adhere to the very letter of the two first Evangelists, a 
most forced and unnatural construction has been put upon 
the matter, by supposing that at first both thieves had 
blasphemed on the cross, but that one of the two had 
repented immediately afterwards, had reprimanded his 
fellow-thief, and besought the Lord's forgiveness. But in 
making such a supposition, it has not been considered 
that, if the malefactor's conversion really took place in so 



6 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

prompt and immediate a manner, St Luke, at the least, 
would have noticed, in a word or two, this sudden transi- 
tion, made in a moment, from the most frightful enmity 
to the liveliest faith! But further still, it has not been 
considered that if the converted malefactor had actually 
taken part a moment before in his companion's blasphemies, 
the first thing he certainly would have thought of doing 
would have been to abase himself on account of his last 
offence, not to reprimand the other malefactor for a sin in 
which he himself had just before taken part. One has but 
to read attentively the converted criminal's expressions, 
as given by St Luke (xxiii. 40, 41), to see that, while 
admitting himself to be a miserable sinner like his fellow, 
he evidently distinguishes between himself and him, in 
regard to the reviling of the Lord Jesus. And St Luke 
himself points to the same distinction when, at verse 40, 
he says : " But the other answering rebuked him, saying," 
&c. Thus, it appears that there is no way of reconciling 
the Evangelists, if we admit the plural of St Matthew and 
St Mark in its literal acceptation. All, on the contrary, 
perfectly harmonizes when, as we have just hinted, we 
explain that plural as a mere indication of the species. 
And this will strike us still more clearly when, by an exact 
analysis of the Gospel of St Matthew, we shall see that 
the use of the plural in cases where the other Evangelists 
(St Luke in particular) speak of one thing or person only, 
is, on the part of the first of our Evangelists, a constant 
mode of writing, and by no means fortuitous ; the result, 
consequently, of his individual style and manner as an his- 
torian, not of some involuntary error or inaccuracy. 

The fault almost as much of the defenders as of the 
impugners of the revelation and inspiration of the Gospels, 
lies in their not perceiving that there is in the manner in 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

which we relate or represent things, whether with the pen 
or the pencil, a certain variety, nay, even a kind of appa- 
rent contradiction, necessarily resulting from the truth 
itself of our description, according to the particular point 
of view in which we contemplate an object or event, at 
the moment when we relate or describe it. The most 
ordinary language of common life presents us with such 
contradictions, apparent but nowise real, and the recon- 
cilement of which is in every one's power. It is thus, 
that, without for a moment contradicting his science and 
his personal conviction with respect to the earth's revolv- 
ing round the sun, an astronomer will, like every one 
else, speak of the suns rising and setting. Or when the 
painter, in drawing objects seen from a certain altitude, 
gives to those objects on his canvass the exact height 
which he sees them have from that point, will it be said 
that he is in contradiction with some other painter who 
represents to us the same objects, seen close at hand, on 
level ground, and so in their natural dimensions'? Both 
representations are true ; the one, as the ancients used to 
say, Kara to ^acvofievov (according to the impression made 
on the spectator), the other Kara to ov (according to the 
reality of the object in itself). Our language and our 
thoughts are perpetually alternating betwixt these two 
diverse verities. 

On applying this very simple principle to the investi- 
gation of the true harmony of the Gospels, we shall find 
the following result — a result satisfactory in every point 
of view : that each of the four Evangelists has described 
the same object, but that object seen as a model, for 
example, placed in the centre of four different points of 
view — like a building seen and drawn from four different 
sides. Now. no doubt, those four drawings will differ 



8 . THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

apparently ; they ought to differ ; there would be error 
or falsification if they did not differ, — and yet when com- 
bined together they would intimately coalesce ; and the 
more they are contemplated, and the more they are com- 
pared, all apparent contradictions would yanish, and all 
differences and discrepancies would be accounted for. 

But to justify the application of this example to the 
great question of the harmony of the Gospels, we must 
patiently analyze the leading traits in the special cha- 
racter of each of them in particular. We have in these 
pages sought to find the determining reason of this 
different character belonging to the four writings, each 
of them separately, in the individual character, the object, 
the plan, and the particular calling of each of the four 
writers themselves. 

Our first endeavour, accordingly, has been to inquire 
into the relation that subsists between each of the four 
Gospels and the inspired author under whose name it 
has hitherto passed among us. This inquiry will at once 
present, of itself, a striking and decisive result in favour 
of the genuineness and authenticity of -those writings, 
independently even of the external testimony of the first 
ages of the Church, and of the Ancient Fathers. For if, 
in point of fact, on scrutinizing these several writings, we 
find clearly demonstrated to us, in the first of the four 
Gospels, the distinctive marks, and seal as it were, of one 
of the Twelve, and specially of the one who had formerly 
been a publican — in the second Gospel, the unmistake- 
able characteristics of one who, like St Mark, was a com- 
panion and son in the faith of St Peter — in the third, 
the evident tokens of an intimate friend and faithful 
fellow-labourer of St Paul, as was Luke, the physician — 
finally, in the fourth, the no less evident marks of the 



INTEODUCTKXN. 9 

vjell-beloved disciple of the Lord himself — we possess a 
proof of the genuineness of those four compositions, all 
the more strong and irrefragable when compared with 
the external testimony of ages, as the testing of a dia- 
mond by fire is more conclusive than the most universal 
external testimony to the fact that that diamond has 
been all along considered by its owners, and received 
from the hand of the jeweller, as such. 

After this, when the same examination of our four 
Gospels shall have demonstrated to us, that the variations 
and the differences that they present are in exact pro- 
portion and necessary relation with the special character 
and particular plan of each of the respective writers, we 
find no difficulty in arriving at such an agreement among 
the four compositions as, while it preserves these differ- 
ences, will be found to result in the most perfect expres- 
sion of the truth, rendered by each from his own parti- 
cular point of view, and equally just and true. 



10 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



II. ST MATTHEW. 



From the most remote times, and by common consent, 
this, the first of our Gospels, has, in conformity with its 
title, been attributed to the apostle whose calling from 
the seat of custom is related in the first three Gospels. 
We possess a deep-seated mark of this origin in the very 
manner in which the names of the apostles are noted 
down by the three different Evangelists. The following 
is the nomenclature of the twelve, as we find it in the 
first Gospel, and afterwards with a slight shade of differ- 
ence in the second, in the third, and, last of all, in the 
Acts of the Apostles : — 



Matth. x. 2, 3, 4 
Now the names of the twelve 
apostles are these ; The first, Simon, 
who is called Peter, and Andrew 
his brother ; James the son of Ze- 
bedee, and John his brother ; Philip, 
and Bartholomew; Thomas, and 
Matthew the publican; James 
the son of Alphasus, and Lebbseus, 
whose surname was Thaddeus ; Si- 
mon the Canaanite, and Judas 
Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 



Mark iii. 14-19. 
And he ordained twelve, that 
they should be with him, and that 
he might send them forth to preach, 
And to have power to heal sick- 
nesses, and to cast out devils : And 
Simon he surnamed Peter; and 
James the son of Zebedee, and John 
the brother of James ; and he sur- 
named them Boanerges, which is, 
The sons of thunder: And Andrew, 
and Philip, and Bartholomew, and 
Matthew, and Thomas, and James 
the son of Alphseus, and Thaddeus, 
and Simon the Canaanite, And 
Judas Iscariot which also betrayed 
him. 



ST MATTHEW. 11 

Luke vi. 13-16. Acts i. 13. 

And when it was day, he called And when they were come in, 

unto him his disciples: and of them they went up into an upper room, 

he chose twelve, whom also he where abode both Peter, and James, 

named apostles; Simon, (whom he and John, and Andrew, Philip, and 

also named Peter,) and Andrew Thomas, Bartholomew, and Mat- 

his brother, James and John, Philip theu\ James the son of Alphaeus, 

and Bartholomew, Matthew and and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the 

Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, brother of James, 
and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas 
the brother of James, and Judas 
Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 

We see at a glance that the name of Matthew is found 
in all of these lists, but it is only in the first (that is, in 
his own) that the humbling title of publican is added. 
This could not have entered into the thoughts of any one 
but St Matthew himself : what fiction-writer would hare 
dreamt of seeming apostolic authority for a fabricated 
gospel in such a manner \ What party, supposing that 
there could have been any that had an interest in the 
first Gospel's being ascribed to that particular Apostle, 
would for this purpose have thought of attaching to the 
name of Matthew the remembrance of his former calling, 
being one by no means honourable in Israel % Or rather, 
what other author, were he not a true disciple and imi- 
tator of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, would have so dis- 
tinguished his name among the servants of the kingdom 
of God % 

In yet another manner, and that quite as touching and 

unobtrusive, and quite as little obvious to a superficial 

reader, the author of the first Gospel intimates his being 

so in the very account he gives of his calling as a disciple 

and servant of the Lord. You have only to compare 

anew his narrative with those of St Mark and St Luke. 

Matth. ix. 9, 10. Mark ii. 14, 15. Luke v. 27-29. 

9. And as Jesus pass- 14 And as he passed 27 And after these 
ed forth from thence, he by, he saw Levi the things he went forth. 



12 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 



saw 

Matthew, sitting at the 
receipt of custom : and 
he saith unto him, Fol- 
low me. And he arose 
and followed him. 

10 And it came to 
pass, as Jesus sat at 
meat in the house, be- 
hold, many publicans 
and sinners came and 
sat down with him and 
his disciples. 



son of Alphgeus sitting 
at the receipt of custom, 
and he said unto him, 
Follow me. And he 
arose and followed him. 
15 And it came to 
pass, that, as Jesus sat 
at meat in his house, 
many publicans and 
sinners sat also toge- 
ther with Jesus and his 
disciples: for there were 
many, and they fol- 
lowed him. 



and saw a publican, 
named Levi, sitting at 
the receipt of custom : 
and he said unto him, 
Follow me. 

28 And he left all, 
rose up, and followed 
him. 

29 And Levi made 
him a great feast in 
his own house : and 
there was a great com- 
pany of publicans and 
of others that sat down 
with them. 



Speaking of himself, the first Evangelist calls the pub- 
lican who was called to the apostleship, a man (avdpwirov, 
an expression nowise honourable in this sense) — a man 
named Matthew. The second and the third Evangelists 
give him his own proper Jewish name ; one of them adds, 
by way of honourable distinction, the name of his father 
— Levi, the son of Alphceus. There is, also, a particular 
circumstance which we find noted, not by himself, but 
by another Evangelist (St Luke) — that he left all to 
follow Jesus. There have been doubts, however, as to 
the identity of the person, on account of the names of 
Leyi and Matthew, and particularly because, in the first 
of the Gospels, we are not expressly told that the feast 
was held in Matthew's house. But it is precisely this 
omission of the feast in the Gospel of St Matthew, and 
still more the omission of the name of the owner of the 
house in which the feast was held, that clearly shews 
that here he was speaking of his own proper self — a per- 
sonality which the authors of these writings are accus- 
tomed to put forward as little as possible wherever any 
thing praiseworthy or honourable happens to have to be 
mentioned. Consequently it is again St Luke who, with 



ST MATTHEW. 13 

St Mark, supplies the void in their predecessor's narra- 
tive ; and the identity of Levi and Matthew remains no 
less certain, on simply comparing the three Evangelists, 
than that of Simon, son of Jonas, and Peter. The men- 
tion of Matthew's leaving all to follow the Lord, is not to 
be found in his Gospel, but only in St Luke. 

From these details, then, slight as they may appear, 
but thus only more forcible as a testimony to the plain 
and simple truth, it is certain that the author of the first 
of our Gospels is an Apostle — is the publican who was 
called by Jesus from the exercise of his profession. This 
same character of converted publican and called Apostle 
accompanies us throughout his whole Gospel. But before 
resting upon this point, let us pause again at a very 
simple remark suggested by the result we hare obtained. 
It was natural in some sort that one of the Gospels, and 
especially the first of the four, should be written by an 
Apostle, and this is an idea which might occur to a human 
writer of fiction, whether in writing the book or in giving 
it a title. But, we venture to ask, where is the writer of 
a fiction — nay, where is the man — who would have charged 
with this honourable task a St Matthew, the seventh or 
eighth in rank on the list of the twelve ? According to 
all human reasoning, would not the first that would 
suggest themselves for such a work be a St Peter, a St 
Thomas, or a St James \ Divine Wisdom chose precisely 
the publican, who but for that would hardly have been 
noticed on the list ; and he who had previously spent his life 
in noting down customs' duties and imposts, was now, after 
having left all for his Saviour's service, to find himself 
honoured by being the first to note down the wonderful 
doings of his saving mercy. 

We have said that in the Gospel of St Matthew the 



1 4 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

converted publican, the called Apostle, reveals himself at 
every turn. His whole composition is pervaded by a 
uniform tone of humility, of modest simplicity, of amaze- 
ment at the grace that had come to publicans and to 
sinners. The spirit of his whole Gospel is to be found in 
that saying of John the Baptist to Jesus, which we find 
recorded only by St Matthew : Comest thou to me \ (iii. 
14). While in St Luke, as we shall yet see, the funda- 
mental tone is the mercy of the Lord, so in Matthew it is 
his humility and meekness. Again, it is he alone who 
has preserved for us that expression of our Lord : Learn 
of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart (xi. 29). 

And this fundamental feature of the holy humanity of 
Jesus is at once brought prominently forward by our first 
Gospel, in the genealogy which forms its introduction 
(i. 1 — 16). Not only are the male progenitors of our 
Lord, according to his human origin, enumerated there, 
but some of their wives are also named ; and those are 
precisely the women over whom, in the world's appre- 
hension, there lay a cloud of ignominy, arising either 
from their origin, as in the case of Ruth and Rachab, or 
from scandalous circumstances in their history, as in that 
of Thamar and of her who had been the wife of Urias, 
since our Lord, in his admirable humility, disdained not 
to reckon such personages among his ancestors. The 
same fundamental feature in the incarnation of Jesus is 
expressed in the following quotation, found only in St 
Matthew : He shall be called a Nazarene (a Nazarene, 
despised.) — Matth. ii. 23. But thus, too, no more does 
the disciple blush at the ignominy attached to his name, 
manner of life, and previous vocation. Nowhere do we 
see the profession of publican placed in a less honourable 
light than in the Gospel of St Matthew. We repeatedly 



ST MATTHEW. 15 

find in the Gospel writings the names publicans and sinners 
conjoined, but nowhere except in Matthew (xxi. 31, 32) do 
we read so conjoined, the names publicans and harlots. — 
(Compare further Matth. v. 46, 47, with Luke vi. 32, 33.) 
Nevertheless, with all this profound humility, with all 
this most modest appreciation of himself, we nowhere 
find that our first Evangelist dissembles his apostolic 
character. Not that he ever announces the proofs of it 
with the smallest parade, but because the apostolic cha- 
racter of the author reveals itself by the effect of the 
inherent force of truth. In St Matthew we find either 
more circumstantially stated, or exclusively noted here 
and there, what were specially the calling and the privi- 
lege of the apostles. The rules prescribed to the 
apostles at the time of their first mission are recorded 
by no other Evangelist so fully, or even with the parti- 
cularity which, setting aside the commandment to the 
seventy disciples recorded by St Luke, we find in 
Matthew comprehended in that given to the twelve. In 
his pages alone we find that characteristic expression of 
the apostolic vocation (and of the entire doctrine of sal- 
vation) : Freely ye have received, freely give. — (x. 8.) 
Further, it is he who relates the promise of the kingdom 
to the twelve, expressed in its richest plenitude (xix. 28) : 
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That 
ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the 
Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also 
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the tivelve tribes of 
Israel, Further, he is the only one that records the 
solemn institution of the apostolic teaching and baptism, 
after our Lord's resurrection : Go ye therefore, and teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to 



1 6 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. — 
(xxviii. 19, 20.) 

But at the same time, this great apostolic character of 
the author of the first of our Gospels always goes hand 
in hand with his characteristic modesty. It is precisely 
in this Gospel, and in no other, that homage is paid to 
the personal preference of St Peter among the twelve. 
In the roll of the apostles quoted above, it is in St 
Matthew alone (x. 2) that Simon Peter is expressly said 
to be the first It is only in St Matthew that we find 
that saying addressed to St Peter : Blessed art thou, 
Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say 
also unto thee, That thou art Peter (Trerpos), and upon this 
rock (7rerpa) I will build my church ; and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it. — (xvi. 17, 18.) Peter's walk- 
ing upon the waters (an effect of faith, though followed soon 
after by that faith failing, and by fright), as well as the 
miraculous fishing of the piece of money by the same 
apostle, St Peter, is mentioned nowhere but by his fellow 
apostle St Matthew. — (Matth. xxiv. 28, 31; xvii. 24, 27.) 

We find an Israelite cast in close alliance with what 
there is of the apostolical in this character. St Matthew 
is emphatically an apostle for Israel, an evangelist who 
had come out from Israel ; his point of view is exclusively 
that of Israel, that of the Old Testament — above all, that 
of the prophecies. His Gospel proclaims itself to be 
such from the very commencement. The booh of the 
generation (let this expression be compared with the Old 
Testament style ; for example, Gen. v. 1) — the booh of 
the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of 
Abraham (i. 1) ; while the genealogy which immediately 
follows carries back our Lord's origin, not, as in St Luke 



ST MATTHEW. 1 7 

(iii. 38), as far as Adam, but only as far as Abraham. 
In this and other points of a like kind, St Matthew's 
Gospel always connects the New Testament with the 
Old, forms the transition from the writings of the one 
economy to the other, or rather unfolds itself and comes 
forth, so to speak, in full life from the Israelitish oracles. 
The accomplishment of the promises, the proof that Jesus 
of Nazareth is the promised Christ, the great Prophet 
and Israel's Messiah — such is the main object of this first 
of the Evangelical heralds of the great king Jesus. To 
him more than any other of the Evangelists (though all 
start from the principle of the fulfilment of the prophe- 
cies in Jesus Christ), the form used in quotation is pecu- 
liarly appropriate : That it might be fulfilled which 

WAS SPOKEN OF THE LORD BY THE PROPHET ; and, THEN 
WAS FULFILLED THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN BY THE PRO- 
PHET, &C. 1 The express appeal to the prophecies occurs 
in St Mark and St Luke only in a few sentences ; 2 while 
in St Matthew that appeal is the principal affair. In St 
John, also, we find this appeal recurring more frequently 
than in the two immediately preceding Gospels, but dis- 
tinguished from St Matthew by a particular character 
(which we shall speak of afterwards) altogether his own. 
In the Gospel of this first Evangelist, accordingly, the 
preaching of Jesus Christ is found cemented, as it were, 
in a number of prophecies which the following Evangelists, 
after so positive and so powerful a testimony, needed not 
to repeat, such as that of Emmanuel, son of the Virgin, 
in Isaiah ; 3 that of the great light upon Galilee of the 
Gentiles^ in the same prophet ; that of the birth of the 

1 Matth. i. 22; ii. 5, 15, 17, 23; xiii. 35; xxi. 4; xxvii. 9, &c. 

2 Mark i. 2; xiv. 49. Luke iv. 21; xxiv. 27. 

3 Matth. i. 22, 23. Isaiah vii. 14. 4 Matth. iv. 14-16. Isaiah ix. 1, 2. 

B 



18 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

great Governor over Israel who was to come out of Beth- 
lehem} in Micah ; that of the delivering of the just one for 
thirty pieces of silver, in Jeremiah, and several others. 2 

The same Apostle-evangelist, however, does not confine 
himself to the express and direct citation of the Old 
Testament. His whole Gospel is full of allusions to 
those passages and sayings of the Old Testament in 
which the Christ was either predicted or foreshadowed, 
or in any way intimated beforehand. He throws in 
such allusions (or rather they come of themselves) in his 
exhibition of the works, the sayings, and the parables of 
our Lord, in the way either of paraphrase, or of develop- 
ment, or of explanation. For it pertains to the high 
authority of the sacred writers not always to render 
literally their Master's words, but as it were to identify 
these with their own inspired conceptions and expositions 
of them, in such sort that often one cannot make, and 
that there is no need of making, a distinction. Here we 
may apply our Lord's saying : He that heareth you, hear- 
eth me. When the Apostles or Evangelists thus give our 
Lord's saying with their own paraphrase or explanation, 
let it not be forgotten that they do so in his Spirit and 
by his Spirit, and that thus their Scriptures have the 
same authority as the words of Jesus himself, and ought 
to be considered as his authentic interpretation. Their 
word is his, understood and rendered by one of their 
number as viewed in one aspect, by another in another 
aspect. The parable of the king who had prepared a 
marriage-feast may serve here as an example of such 
insertion of words, legitimately destined more fully to 
illustrate one of the Master's declarations, and principally 

-1 Matth. ii. 5, 6; xii. 17, 20. Isaiah xlii. 1. Micah v. 2. 
2 Matth. xxvii. 9, 10. Zechar. xi. 12. 



ST MATTHEW. 19 

to connect them with the Scriptures of the ancient Israel. 
In that parable, the invitation in St Luke (xiv. 17) runs 
simply thus : Come, for all things are ready. In St 
Matthew much more is said (xxii. 4) : Behold, I have 
prepared my dinner : my oxen and my failings are killed, 
and all things are ready : come unto the marriage. And 
now, what is the origin of this amplified account in St 
Matthew % Who can fail to recognise in this passage an 
allusion to the invitation of Sovereign Wisdom in the 
Book of Proverbs (ix. 1 — 6) : Wisdom hath builded her 
house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars : she hath hilled 
her beasts; she hath mingled her wins; she hath also 
furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens : 
she crieth upon the highest places of the city. Whoso is 
simple, let him turn in hitlur : as for him that ivanteth 
understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, 
and drink of the tvine which I have mingled, Forsake 
the foolish ami live; and go in the ivay of understanding. 
Is there not in this transient allusion of the Apostle to 
the saying of the author of Proverbs, the force of a quo- 
tation \ Is there not in this equally delicate and pro- 
found conjunction, a striking call to recognise in the 
Sovereign Wisdom of Solomon a reference to Him to 
whose table the gospel of grace invites sinners % 

We might go still more deeply into the nature of 
these apostolic allusions to the Old Testament ; we may 
consider them in their bearing on the point of view 
which, generally speaking, is peculiar to the first in order 
of the New Testament writers. That point of view leads 
us not so much to a minute historical description, as to a 
general survey of the life and passion, of the death and 
resurrection, of Jesus, contemplated as the crowning of 
the ancient prophecies. Such was evidently that of 



20 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the Apostle-evangelist. In this view, the events he sets 
before us are but to him realized prophecy ; here his- 
tory and prophecy meet, and become merged in each 
other. From this continual contemplation of history in 
the light of prophecy, arises that apparent (but only 
apparent) want of exactness which distinguishes St Mat- 
thew. It is by this, further, that we may explain that 
so frequent use of the plural in passages where his fellow- 
evangelists, in what they most explicitly tell us, undoubt- 
edly employ the singular. The solution is not difficult. 
The prophets had used in their writings the plural em- 
ployed by the apostle. The Saviour predicted by them 
was to open the eyes of the blind, to deliver the captives, 
to heal the lame and the paralytic — all these adjectives 
being in the plural. And did not all this actually take 
place in the fulfilment % Assuredly Christ's power and 
goodness were not contented with a single deliverance 
from each of these miseries. But here is the charac- 
teristic point in St Matthew, that each of these doings 
of his Lord calls up to his mind the entire plenitude of 
the prophecy ; represents to him in one single blind per- 
son healed by Jesus all whom the prophecy had indi- 
cated. And thus there arises from this mingling of 
prophecy and history, of prediction and accomplishment, 
that plural which, understood literally and in appear- 
ance, is inexact, but which, when viewed in connexion 
with the plan and the object of the Evangelist, possesses 
the most essential and the most profound reality. 

It is not, however, solely in this connexion with the 
ancient prophecies that St Matthew voluntarily makes 
use of the plural. That number is on more than one 
account familiar with this Evangelist. Of this we have 
seen a striking example in our Introduction. We shall 



ST MATTHEW. 21 

meet again, more than once, with this same plural in the 
first of our Gospels. 

Our attention is now called to another particularity — 
a particularity which we find intimately associated with 
the Israelitic and Apostolic character of this first Gospel. 
We have already pointed out the chief object for which it 
was written; namely, to prove that the prophecies con- 
cerning the promised Messiah were fulfilled in Jesus of 
Nazareth, born at Bethlehem, crucified at Jerusalem. 
We find in St Matthew chiefly that Messiah as the great 
Prophet predicted and prefigured by all the prophets; 
that Messiah who came as King over Sim, Son of David, 
Prince and Saviour of Israel and of all nations ; while the 
Gospel of St Mark shews him to ns more particularly in 
the reality of his incarnation — that of St Luke in the 
plenitude of his unction by the Holy Ghost — that of St 
John in the glory of his Divinity, as the only Son of God, 
as the uncreated Word of God. 

Let us contemplate him, in the first place, in St Mat- 
thew, as the great Prophet announced for ages before. 
After the baptism in Jordan and the temptation in the 
wilderness, the Apostle at once presents him to us as such, 
in a passage taken from Isaiah, already adduced, on the 
occasion of his preaching in Galilee (Matth. iv. 16). A 
little after (chap, v.-vii.) we have that sublime Sermon on 
the Mount, which contains the foundations of the whole 
prophetic ministry of the Saviour, and (as we shall see 
hereafter) is placed by St Matthew, not in a chronological 
order, but in a connexion of ideas altogether peculiar, 
and with an object which he alone had in view. That 
Sermon on the Mount, as it is recorded in the first 
Gospel, evidently contains, not only what Jesus taught on 
that mountain and on that occasion, but also what he 



22 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

further taught of a like kind and to the same purport, in 
other discourses of his public life as a Teacher in Israel. 
In that Sermon, St Matthew places the Lord before us as 
a Prophet like unto Moses, 1 and yet as much greater than 
Moses as the son is greater than the servant.' 2. In that 
incomparable collection of commandments for our guid- 
ance to salvation, presented to us in the Sermon on the 
Mount, we possess the law of Christ expressed, both as it 
harmonizes with that of Moses, and at the same time as it 
differs from it. As it harmonizes with that of Moses, 
that is to say, in that grand result of the eternal law divine, 
Thou shalt love; but also as it differs from that of Moses, 
as surpassing and completing the law of Sinai by a spiri- 
tuality and a depth altogether new; — as, in fine, it is 
sealed by benedictions, while the law of Moses is sealed 
by that great malediction, pronounced against whosoever 
should not abide in all that had been written (Deuter. 
xxvii. 26). 

Further, it is St Matthew who shews us the very 
mode of teaching which the great Prophet Messias, foretold 
and described in the prophecies of the Old Testament, 
was to employ (xii. 16-20): And he charged them that 
they should not make him known : that it might be ful- 
filled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 
Behold my servant, ivhom I have chosen: my beloved, in 
tuhom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon 
him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He 
shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his 
voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, 
and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth 
judgment unto victory? And in like manner, after some 
examples of his teaching by similitudes (xiii. 34, 35) : 

1 Deuter. xviii. 18. Acts of Ap. iii. 22. 2 Heb. iii. 3. 3 Isaiah xlii. 1-4. 



ST MATTHEW. 23 

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; 
and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it 
might be fulfilled ivhich ivas spoken by the prophet, say- 
ing, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things 
ivhich have been kept secret from the beginning of the 
ivorld. 1 

Finally, it is by St Matthew alone that there has been 
preserved to us that saying of the multitudes at the time 
of the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (xxi. 11): 
This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. 

And now let us turn to Jesus Christ as King. Matthew 
is very full in the descriptions of our Lord with respect 
to this title also, not that he describes him as such exclu- 
sively, but yet in an eminent and particular manner. At 
the very first, the genealogy points to this title of royalty. 
Twice he adds to the name of David the title of King 
(i. 6) : Then (i. 20) Joseph, the husband of Mary (this, 
again, only in St Matthew), is called by the Angel, Son 
of David. That denomination, pertaining emphatically 
to Jesus as Messiah, nowhere occurs with such frequent 
reiteration as just in the first of our Gospels. Thus, for 
example, at the time of his last entrance into Jerusalem, 
the title of Son of David is mentioned twice by St 
Matthew (xxi. 9 and 16) in the Hosannah of the multi- 
tude. At the coming of the wise men of the East, it is 
only in St Matthew that we find Jesus at the very first 
proclaimed King (ii. 2) : Where is the King of the Jews? 
as afterwards, in a parable not mentioned by any other 
of the Evangelists, the Lord Jesus is actually represented 
on the great day of judgment, as a King sitting in judg- 
ment (xxv. 31 to the end): And when the Son of man 
shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, 

1 Fsalm lxxviii. 2. 



24 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before 
him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate 
them me from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep 
from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right 
hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say 
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, &c. In another parable related by St Matthew 
(xxii. 2), the Father is represented as a Icing who makes 
a marriage feast for his son, whilst in St Luke (xiv. 16) 
a man only is spoken of. It is true that (in the parable 
of the talents) it is in St Luke that there is introduced 
mention of the kingdom of Jesus, 1 but at the same time it 
will be observed that St Luke does this of set purpose ; 
while in St Matthew the characteristic point is just what 
seems not premeditated, but to drop from his pen spon- 
taneously, in whatever reminds us in his pages of the 
kingship of Jesus. Even in the recital of the scoffs 
directed against the royal dignity of Jesus in Pilate's 
pretorium, that of Matthew we find anew most minute in 
its details. It is he also, in the history of the Passion 
(xxvii. 29), who alone speaks of the reed put into the hand 
of Jesus in mockery of a sceptre, 2 an incident, the mention 
of which bears at the same time an allusion, evidently 
prophetic, to a saying of the Psalmist (Ps. ii. 9). 

Nevertheless, as we have already noticed summarily, 
St Matthew is far from being the only one that was 
commissioned to announce Jesus as King. That commis- 
sion was necessarily common to all the four Evangelists. 
But what is special to St Matthew is the coupling of the 
proofs of that kingship with all the ancient prophecies, 
and indeed with the entire history of the people of Israel. 

1 Luke xix. 12, compared with Matth. xxv. ] 4. 

2 Matth. xxvii. 29, compared with Mark xv. 19, and Luke xxiii. 2, 3. 



ST MATTHEW. 25 

With the royal glory of the Saviour I find, in this same 
Gospel, the worship of that Saviour closely associated. 
St Matthew often speaks of this worship in a very striking 
manner; most frequently in such a manner, and in such 
a connexion, that the idea of a merely royal homage 
cannot be admitted; but that the kneeling to Jesus, in 
the intention of the Evangelist, indicates, in a way not to 
be mistaken, such a king as was at the same time Son of 
God, and according to the saying of the prophet and of 
the apostle — Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us, God 
manifest in the flesh. 

All that has hitherto been said of the Lord's prophetic 
and royal ministry, as set before us by St Matthew, belongs 
without contradiction to the Israelitie character of that 
Gospel, as already noticed. But this attribute — (its 
Israelitie character) — must be understood in its true sense. 
St Matthew's exposition is Israelitie, not simply from its 
Israelite origin, still less from accommodation to the ideas 
of those Jews to whom, more particularly, or rather in the 
first instance, his Gospel was addressed; but because both 
the origin and the kingdom, the entire idea and the whole 
person of the Messiah, are and remain Israelitie; and 
because Christianity detached from this root would just 
lose its character, both as a Religion of all ages and for 
all ages, and as the accomplishment of all the divine 
promises. The Gospel of St Matthew expresses, in its 
historical narrative, the same truth of which St Paul, in 
the view of eternity, reminded his son Timothy, and 
through him the Churches of all ages: Remember that 
Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from 
the dead according to my gospel. — (2 Tim. ii. 8.) 

Nevertheless, that which is Israelitie in Matthew, that 
which with him is so strongly imbued with the national 



26 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Israelitic spirit, distinguishes itself in a very positive and 
glaring manner from the Jewish or rather rabbinical 
spirit which forms the more modern character of that 
same nation, down to the days of our Lord's abode on 
earth and since. We take as an instance of this essential 
difference, the hostile disposition of those Pharisee-Jews 
to the Gentiles, while the Israel of God, to whom from 
the very earliest times the promises were confided, rejoice 
(in their psalms and in their prophecies) at the prospect 
of all nations being led one day to the knowledge of the 
God and King of the people of Abraham. In this respect, 
also, our Gospel is a glorious reflection of the prophecies. 
Already does our Lord's genealogy in St Matthew prelude 
to the calling of the Gentiles in the brief mention it makes 
of Rachab and of Ruth among the Messiah's female 
ancestors; next, with no less force, the Gospel of St 
Matthew gives testimony to that same vocation, by quoting 
more than one prediction relating to it ; by the account 
also, found only there, of the coming and of the worship 
of the wise men of the East (chap, ii.) ; and, afterwards, 
by the emphatic close of the quotation from Isaiah to 
which we have already referred: And in his name shall 
the Gentiles trust (xii. 21). Proceeding from the same 
point of view, our Evangelist gives a prominent place to 
the faith of the Gentiles ; that for example of the woman 
of Canaan (xv. 21-23), and that of the centurion at the 
moment of his servant's illness (viii. 5-13). It is highly 
remarkable how, in the former of these examples, the 
principal and particular connexion of the Saviour with 
Israel stands fully out at the very moment of his shewing 
the greatest compassion to that pagan woman; in the 
latter, that of the centurion, the Israelite Apostle strongly 
forewarns the Jews against confidence in the merely carnal 



ST MATTHEW. 27 

origin of Israel. This he does by transferring one of the 
Saviour's sayings, which, according to the more historical 
order of St Luke, is introduced by him on another occa- 
sion : And I say unto you, That many shall come from 
the east and from the ivest, and shall sit down with 
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, in the kingdom of 
heaven. But the children of the kingdom (Israelites by 
birth and not by faith) shall be cast out into outer dark- 
ness: there shall be weejnng and gnashing of teeth. 1 

Yet this Israelite and Hebrew character of our first 
Gospel does not necessitate the idea entertained by many 
— that the original must have been written in the same 
language as the Old Testament. The supposition that 
St Matthew composed his Gospel for Israel in the ancient 
national tongue, the Hebrew, and that what we now pos- 
sess in the New Testament collection is the transla- 
tion of that Gospel of Hebrew origin, rests chiefly on the 
testimony of some ancient Fathers of the Church, and 
continues to be held down to this day by many learned 
men. But it is a supposition which, according to our view r 
of the subject, has many decisive arguments against it. 
The question, however, becomes of much less importance 
the moment we adopt the view of those learned men who 
are of opinion that the Greek translation is from the hand 
of the author himself, and consequently neither more nor 
less than a second edition of the originally Hebrew Gospel. 
This is not the time to go deeply into the question that 
has arisen on the subject of the language in which St 
Matthew wrote his first or his only Gospel. Be it enough 
here to observe further on this point, that the freshness of 
style that distinguishes our Gospel of St Matthew would, 

1 Matth. viii. 11, 12, taken in connexion with verses 10 and 13, and compared 
with Luke xiii. 28, 29, and in connexion in that place. 



28 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

of itself, exclude the idea of its being a mere translation, 
however exquisitely done ; and that, moreover, it is a suf- 
ficiently decided point, that from the Apostles' time the 
Greek tongue was too generally known, not only- among 
the Jews scattered every where, but among those even of 
Galilee and Judea, to make a version in Hebrew or 
Aramean necessary, in order to its being understood 
among them. 

Meanwhile this Gospel, although in our opinion written 
in Greek, is distinguished by a still deeper tinge of that 
Hebrew colouring which is found engrained in all the 
New Testament writings, though in quite a peculiar 
manner in St Matthew's. The physiognomy of this first 
of our Gospels is eminently Oriental, as that of St Mark's 
Gospel is Roman, that of St Luke's Greek, that of St 
John heavenly. This, in St Matthew's narratives, is 
combined with something artless, as in the language of 
children, or at least for children, contrasting in a striking 
manner with the grandiose character of that same Gospel. 
It is thus, for example, that St Matthew shews a particular 
affection for that little word familiar to infants, then 
(rore). We, find, also, that same perfectly simple and 
artless manner of relating a matter ever recurring in 
those frequent repetitions which St Matthew is nowise 
afraid of, whether for the sake of greater clearness, or in 
order to resume the thread of his narrative. In the issue 
we shall see, in this simple remark, the solution of an 
important passage in the history of the Passion, where St 
Matthew's words (xxvii. 1) will be proved to us not to 
contain new details, but simply the repetition or recapi- 
tulation of a fact already related (xxvi. 62-66). 

This simple, artless, Oriental character is found com- 
bined with something of the poetical, nay, even of the 



ST MATTHEW. 29 

rhythmical, in some passages of our Evangelist ; among 
others, for example, in the concluding part of the Sermon 
on the Mount, which in St Luke and St Matthew is quite 
identical as respects the meaning, but evidently different 
in point of tone and rhythm, as will appear on com- 
paring them. 

Matth. vii. 24-27. Luke vi. 47-49. 

Therefore whosoever heareth Whosoever cometh to me, and 

these sayings of mine, and doeth heareth my sayings, and doeth 

them, I will liken him unto a wise them, I will shew you to whom he 

man, which built his house upon a is like : He is like a man which 

rock : And the rain descended, built an house, and digged deep, 

and the floods came, and the winds and laid the foundation on a rock : 

blew, and beat upon that house ; and when the flood arose, the 

and it fell not : for it was founded stream beat vehemently upon that 

upon a rock. And every one that house, and could not shake it : for 

heareth these sayings of mine, and it was founded upon a rock. But 

doeth them not, shall be likened he that heareth, and doeth not, is 

unto a foolish man, which built his like a man that without a founda- 

house upon the sand : And the tion built a house upon the earth ; 

rain descended, and the floods against which the stream did beat 

came, and the winds blew, and vehemently, and immediately it 

beat upon that house ; and it fell : fell ; and the ruin of that house 

and great was the fall of it. was great. 

Yet another particularity peculiar to St Matthew, and 
in some sort analogous with that of his style, but which 
may be most fruitfully applied to the reconciling of the 
Gospels, is as follows : His diction is marked throughout 
with a certain richness and fulness. Hence arises what 
may be called his accumulation of homogeneous discourses 
and facts. It is just this homogeneousness that deter- 
mines the order he follows in drawing up his narrative. 
The chronological succession of the different events, as 
they actually occurred, is not with him the main point in 
that narrative ; his rule is to be sought in the manner in 
which things are bound together in their nature or in 
their signification. Setting aside any regard to the time 
of their occurrence, he often associates together sayings 



30 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

and doings of our Lord, which naturally hang together 
from being all of the same kind. It is thus, as we have 
already remarked, that he brings together, in the Sermon 
on the Mount, a great many statements and lessons 
relating to our Lord's doctrines and commandments, 
although chronologically out of their proper place, and 
pronounced on different occasions (chap, v., vi., vii.) ; it 
is thus that, in the two chapters that immediately follow, 
he records a number of miracles wrought by Jesus at 
different times. And just as he, so to speak, here accu- 
mulates accounts of miracles, he erelong (chap, xiii.) 
follows that up with a series of parables. He subse- 
quently brings together three similitudes (chap, xxv.), 
the connecting links of which seem again to be found 
(on comparing St Luke and our first Evangelist) in 
their homogeneousness, and not in the order of time. 
All those three similitudes (that of the wise and the fool- 
ish virgins, that of the talents, that of the sheep and the 
goats), brought together in that part of St Matthew's 
Gospel, relate to our Lord's return, of which he had fully 
discoursed in the part immediately preceding (chap, 
xxiv.) ; whereas in St Luke's Gospel it appears, that the 
parable of the talents was, in point of fact, uttered much 
sooner — that is to say, at the time of our Lord's last 
journey with his disciples to Jerusalem, as he drew nigh 
to that city. (Luke xix. 11 — 26.) 

One further particularity still of St Matthew, and one 
that furnishes a no less important method of explaining 
the apparent contrarieties among the Evangelical writers, 
is that which we have already slightly noticed. In his 
narrative of all that Jesus did and taught, it is not ordi- 
narily so much the occurrence itself that is mentioned, as 
the personal impression the Evangelist receives from it. 



ST MATTHEW. 31 

Hence, again, an apparent want of correctness in his nar- 
rative, when compared with the purely historical manner 
of St Luke, or with the detailed and picturesque descrip- 
tions of St Mark. But St Matthew was an eyewitness. 
Writing with the perfect conviction of the truth of what 
he saw, he troubles himself little about accessories and 
details. With him every thing centres in the result of the 
matter in hand. He states the occurrences which he 
saw, the words which he heard, every thing that took 
place in his presence as a disciple, exactly as he observed 
it, as he beheld it, as he heard it, together with the 
impression that it made upon him, the doctrines involved 
in it, the consequences that flowed from it. And all this 
he did, not in an arbitrary manner, or as acting on his 
own authority, but always under the promised and given 
guidance, teaching, and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 
To this we must ascribe the transpositions already re- 
peatedly mentioned. He is conscious that he knows and 
writes the truth where he departs, in a profoundly spiri- 
tual manner, from the literality of the occurrence that 
took place, or of the saying that was uttered. Why, 
then, should we allow ourselves to be astonished at find- 
ing him express in words what we have sufficient 
grounds, from the nature of the thing, or from a com- 
parison with the other Evangelists, for believing to have 
been rather the inward thought of the personages he 
introduces, or of the Saviour himself 1 Here, again, we 
may adduce some examples by way of illustration. In 
the Gospel of St Matthew and of St Mark} we read that 
Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees. The meaning of that 
expression was not at first apprehended by the apostles. 

1 Matth. xvi. 6-12; Mark viii. 15-21. 



32 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 



They thought their Master spoke of bread for eating, and 
reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because ive have 
taken no bread. Jesus reminds them of the twice-repeated 
multiplication of the loaves, to make them sensible that 
he could not possibly hare meant any allusion to bodily 
nourishment. In St Mark, he immediately after gives 
utterance to these serious and energetic words : How is 
it that ye do not understand If In St Matthew, the 
address is much more circumstantially related : How is it 
that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you con- 
cerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees and of the Sadducees f Who is not now sen- 
sible that St Matthew's narrative does not give us so 
much the very words of Jesus as their meaning, and an 
exposition or paraphrase of them, while we find visibly 
given in St Mark the merely literal statement of what 
was said % In like manner, when, at the conclusion of 
the parable of the lord of the vineyard and the husband- 
men, Jesus asks the chief priests and scribes that striking 
question, "What will the lord of the vineyard do to 
those husbandmen'?" St Matthew gives the reply made 
by the Pharisees to that question, while in St Mark and 
St Luke it is the Lord himself who draws the con- 
clusion : 






Matth. xxi. 41. 
They say unto him, 
He will miserably de- 
stroy those wickednien, 
and will let out his 
vineyard unto other 
husbandmen, which 
shall render him the 
fruits in their seasons. 



Mark xii. 9. 
What shall there- 
fore the lord of the 
vineyard do? he will 
come and destroy the 
husbandmen, and will 
give the vineyard unto 
others. 



Luke xx. 16. 
He shall come and de- 
stroy these husband- 
men, and shall give the 
vineyard to others. 
And when they heard 
it, they said, God for- 
bid. 



Who sees not that, in order to explain the difference 
between St Mark, and still more between St Luke and 



ST MATTHEW. 33 

St Matthew, we must look in the two former for the 
manner in which the thing actually happened ; while from 
a higher point of view St Matthew's narrative expresses 
that inward conviction felt by the enemies of Jesus and 
of his truth, which compels them involuntarily, in their 
own consciences, to justify the sentence he pronounces 
against them ? The pen of St Matthew here again gives 
as, without prejudice to his authenticity, the heartfelt con- 
victions of those men, expressed in words which, literally 
considered, could not have been actually heard. Yet a 
third such example : the prayer to obtain the first place 
in the kingdom of heaven for the two sons of Zebedee. 
According to St Matthew (xx. 20, 21), that request w r as 
preferred to our Lord by their mother. Then came to 
him the mother of Zebedee' s children with her sons, tuor- 
shipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And 
he said unto her, Wliat wilt thou? &c. But St Mark 
does not even mention the mother. Is there a contra- 
diction here ? The matter is very simple. St Matthew 
and all the apostles were well aware that James and 
John had not ventured to make any such claim of them- 
selves, but that they had been emboldened and encou- 
raged to make it by their mother. And this is what our 
first Evangelist wishes to show. He puts into the mouth 
of the mother what was expressed by the mouth of her 
sons, but which had also been urged upon them by their 
mother's inconsiderate affection. And all contradiction 
disappears the instant we distinguish, in St Matthew, the 
indication of what occurred in its origin and in its 
principle, and, in St Mark, the simple narrative of the 
manner in which the thing was done and took place. 

The Gospel of St Matthew is characterised by yet 
another quality. Placed in the collection of the Holy 



34 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Scriptures at the opening of the New Testament, this 
Gospel may, in some sort, be called the mother-gospel 
among the four. From St Matthew's Gospel, that of St 
Mark and that of St Luke may be said to be descended : 
that of St John, though differing essentially in its plan 
and its composition from its predecessors, essentially 
assumes, as we shall see in its own place, an acquaintance 
with the three first Gospels. There let us cast a glance 
at the grand question which in this respect divides the 
opinions of the learned. Some consider St Luke to have 
been the first author of a gospel of Jesus Christ ; others 
admit that St Matthew is entitled to rank first in the 
order of time, but assign to St Mark the third, and to 
St Luke the second place in that respect. Another hypo- 
thesis, long maintained by the learned men of Germany, 
but which for some time past has greatly declined in 
credit, deduces all the Gospels, independently the one of 
the other, from a certain writing now lost, which the 
Apostles had originally composed as a joint work, and 
which afterwards had served as the basis both for oral 
preaching and written composition. 

Without rushing into an express examination of all 
these conjectures and of all these assumptions, let us here 
only examine anew what is suggested to us by a compari- 
son of the Gospels themselves, as we possess them in our 
Bibles, for the solution of the question before us. Two 
preliminary observations will naturally conduct us to a 
result. 

The former of these observations impugns the incorrect 
opinion of those who consider the Divine inspiration of 
the Gospels as incompatible with their being compiled 
one after another, and by one being made the ground- 
work of another, in such sort that the second Evangelist 



ST MATTHEW. ^ 35 

knew the work of the first, and the third those of the 
first and the second, and the fourth those of the three 
first. The precise and simple idea of an infallible direc- 
tion — of an immediate inspiration by the Holy Ghost — 
does not at all, or in anyhow, exclude the use of those 
means to which the only-wise God, in all his ways and 
in all his w T orks, has at all times subordinated the exe- 
cution of his divine plan and purposes. Far from this, 
the excellence and the peculiar fitness of the Holy Scrip- 
tures consists precisely in this, that in point of origin, 
and authority, and truth, they are Divine ; but as respects 
the manner in which they have been composed, human. 
The Divine inspiration does not render superfluous the 
reading of books, or the examination and the use of 
sources of information : these it makes use of as its 
canals and its instruments. The prophets were not the 
less inspired by God because of their reading and study- 
ing the writings of Moses and their other inspired pre- 
decessors. Daniel is represented to us, shortly before 
receiving a revelation from heaven, as occupied in read- 
ing the writings of Jeremiah, and deducing the signs of 
the times from what he read. 1 And what but the fruit 
of his researches is it that one of the Evangelists an- 
nounces at the opening of his narrative (Luke i. 1-4) : 
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in 
order a declaration of those things which are most surely 
believed among us ; it seemed good to me also, having had 
perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to 
write unto thee in order, &c. ? Yet that very research, as 
well as this writing, took place in conformity with the 
most express promises, under Divine guidance, and war- 
ranty from all error. Every way. then, there is far from 

' Daniel ix. 2. 



36 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

being any incompatibility between inspiration by God's 
Spirit, and making acquaintance with and use of the 
writings of predecessors. 

Our second preliminary remark bears upon the hypo- 
thesis of the so-called original Apostolical Gospel, to 
which recourse is instantly had when attempts are made 
to account for similarity or sameness of expression in the 
three first Gospels especially, without admitting, however, 
that each successive Evangelist had had in his hands and 
had made use of the work of his predecessor. But setting 
aside the extreme weakness of the very small number of 
passages in the writings of the ancients, in which attempts 
have been made to trace the existence of such a fifth or 
original Gospel, the whole idea is foreign to the time to 
which the Scriptures must be referred. Nothing "is less 
in the spirit of the apostolical times, or of the apostolical 
writings, than a conjoint work of that description, than 
the compilation, in the way of common deliberation, of any 
such document, or, if you will, formal record, as the 
groundwork of future oral discourses, or pieces of writing 
by each Apostle, or minister of the Gospel, in his indivi- 
dual capacity. Individual preaching, individual addresses 
by the mouth or with the pen — such, throughout, is the 
usual and normal New Testament practice. Thus, too, 
nothing more simple than the idea of the first of the 
Gospels having originated in the particulars of the Saviour's 
doings and sayings, sufferings and death, first announced 
by word of mouth, or understood as matters of general 
notoriety, being forthwith, at the fitting time and by a 
competent hand, reduced to writing. Nothing more 
natural than that such a work should be undertaken, not 
by the body of the Apostles in common (of which there 
is not the shadow of a proof), but by one of their number, 



ST MATTHEW. 37 

expressly called to the task and accomplished for it. 
Nothing more easy to be understood than that such should 
have been the origin of the first of our Gospels. Nothing 
more simple than the composition erelong of a second, of 
a third, and of a fourth ; in each of which severally the 
author may have sought to enlarge, to develop, to arrange 
in a more strictly historical order, or possibly to consider 
under a new aspect the facts originally recorded in the 
Gospel of their first model, St Matthew. Nor need we 
be surprised if any succeeding Evangelist has not repeated 
such or such a particular, already sufficiently noticed by 
his predecessor. Each of the writers wrote according to 
his own particular object, point of view, and vocation, as 
well as under God's special direction. It is just this 
combination of mutual dependence and independence, 
that explains there being so many points of difference as 
well as of agreement among the four Evangelists. All 
the four, as we have already remarked, contemplate and 
describe the same object, but that object as viewed and 
observed from four different sides, and according to four 
several plans — each of those plans being in harmony with 
the character and calling of the four several sacred authors. 
Let us pass from these preliminary observations to 
what the Scriptures themselves, when compared together, 
suggest to us in relation to this. And if we find that 
such a comparison confirms us in the sentiments we had 
previously entertained — if we really find St Matthew's 
Gospel to have been the groundwork of all the rest — then 
we have really fallen upon that motlier-gospel which the 
learned of Germany have for some time imagined to have 
existed beyond the number, and independently of, the 
four Gospels. Let us test the matter by turning to one 
of those occurrences recorded by St Matthew, St Mark, 



38 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 



and St Luke, each in his own particular manner, and yet 
so as evidently to harmonize with each other. We con- 
fine ourselves, with this object in view, to the first three 
Evangelists, because on the mutual bearings of these three 
being once made clear, the application of the result to 
St John cannot easily be gainsaid; and because, in any 
case, that application will be more apposite and more 
complete when we come to the special examination of an 
evangelical and prophetical Evangelist so unique and so 
independent of his three predecessors as St John. 

The restoration of life to the daughter of Jairus, and 
the contemporaneous cure of the woman who had had an 
issue of blood for twelve years, are related in the follow- 
ing manner by the three first Evangelists : — 



Matth. ix. 18-26. 
While he spake 
these things unto them, 
behold there came a 
certain ruler and wor- 
shipped him, saying, 
My daughter is even 
now dead : but come 
and lay thy hand upon 
her and she shall live. 
And Jesus arose and 
followed him, and so 
did his disciples. And, 
behold, a woman, which 
was diseased with an 
issue of blood twelve 
years, came behind 
him, and touched the 
hem of his garment : 
For she said within 
herself, If I may but 
touch his garment, I 
shall be whole. But 
Jesus turned him about; 
and when he saw her, 
he said, Daughter, be 
of good comfort ; thy 



Makk v. 22-43. 

And behold there 
cometh one of the rul- 
ers of the synagogue, 
Jairus by name ; and 
when he saw him, he 
fell at his feet, and be- 
sought him greatly, say- 
ing, My little daughter 
lieth at the point of 
death, I pray thee, 
come and lay thy hands 
on her that she may 
be healed; and she 
shall live. And Jesus 
went with him, and 
much people followed 
him, and thronged 
him. And a certain 
woman, which had an 
issue of blood twelve 
years, and had suffered 
many things of many 
physicians, and had 
spent all that she had, 
and was nothing bet- 
tered, but rather grew 



Luke viii. 41-56. 

And, behold, there 
came a man named 
Jairus, and he was a 
ruler of the synagogue ; 
and he fell down at 
Jesus' feet, and be- 
sought him that he 
would come into his 
house : for he had one 
only daughter, about 
twelve years of age, 
and she lay a- dying. 
But as he went the 
people thronged him. 
And a woman having 
an issue of blood twelve 
years, which had spent 
all her living upon 
physicians, neither 
could be healed of any, 
came behind him, and 
touched the border of 
his garment : and im- 
mediately her issue of 
blood stanched. And 
Jesus said, Who touch- 



ST MATTHEW. 



39 



faith hath made thee 
whole. And the wo- 
man was made whole 
from that hour. And 
when Jesus came into 
the ruler's house, aud 
saw the minstrels and 
the people making a 
noise, he said unto 
them, Give place ; for 
the maid is not dead, 
but sleepeth. And they 
laughed him to scorn. 
But when the people 
were put forth, he went 
in, and took her by the 
hand, and the maid 
arose. And the fame 
hereof went abroad into 
all that land. 



worse, when she had 
heard of Jesus, came 
in the press behind, 
and touched his gar- 
ment. For she said, 
If I may touch but 
his clothes, I shall be 
whole ; and straight- 
way the fountain of her 
blood was dried up ; 
and she felt in her body 
that she was healed of 
that plague. And Jesus, 
immediately knowing 
in himself that virtue 
had gone out of him, 
turned him about in 
the press, and said, 
Who touched my 
clothes? And his dis- 
ciples said unto him, 
Thou seest the multi- 
tude thronging thee, 
and sayest thou, Who 
touched me? And he 
looked round about to 
see her that had done 
this thing. But the 
woman, fearing aud 
trembling, knowing 
what was done in her, 
came and fell down be- 
fore him, and told him 
all the truth. And he 
said unto her, Daugh- 
ter, thy faith hath 
made thee whole ; go in 
peace, and be whole of 
thy plague. While he 
yet spake, there came 
from the ruler of the 
synagogue's house, cer- 
tain Avhich said, Thy 
daughter is dead ; why 
troublest thou the Mas- 
ter any further? As 
soon as Jesus heard 



ed me ? When all de- 
nied, Peter, and they 
that were with him, 
said, Master, the mul- 
titude throng thee, and 
press thee, and sayest 
thou, Who touched me? 
And Jesus said, Some- 
body hath touched me : 
for I perceive that vir- 
tue is gone out of me. 
And when the woman 
saw that she was not 
hid, she came trem- 
bling, and, falling down 
before him, she declar- 
ed unto him before all 
the people for what 
cause she had touched 
him, and how she was 
healed immediately. 
And he said unto her, 
Daughter, be of good 
comfort : thy faith hath 
made thee whole ; go 
in peace. While he 
yet spake, there com- 
eth one from the ruler 
of the synagogue's 
house, saying to him, 
Thy daughter is dead ; 
trouble not the Master. 
But when Jesus heard 
it, he answered him, 
saying, Fear not : be- 
lieve only, and she 
shall be made whole. 
And when he came 
into the house, he suf- 
fered no man to go in, 
save Peter, and James, 
and John, and the fa- 
ther and the mother of 
the maiden. And all 
wept, and bewailed her: 
but he said, Weep not ; 
she is not dead, but 



40 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



the word that was 
spoken, he saith unto 
the ruler of the syna- 
gogue, Be not afraid, 
only believe. And he 
suffered no man to fol- 
low him, save Peter, 
and James, and John 
the brother of James. 
And he cometh to the 
house of the ruler of 
the synagogue, and 
seeth the tumult, and 
them that wept and 
wailed greatly. And 
when he was come in, 
he saith unto them, 
Why make this ado, 
and weep ? the damsel 
is not dead, but sleep - 
eth. And they laughed 
him to scorn . But when 
he had put them all 
out, he taketh the fa- 
ther and the mother of 
the damsel, and them 
that were with him, 
and entereth in where 
the damsel was lying. 
And he took the dam- 
sel by the hand, and 
said unto her, Talitha 
cumi ; which is, being 
interpreted, Damsel, (I 
say unto thee,) arise. 
And straightway the 



sleepeth. And they 
laughed him to scorn, 
knowing that she was 
dead. And he put 
them all out, and took 
her by the hand, and 
called, saying, Maid, 
arise. And her spirit 
came again, and she 
arose straightway: and 
he commanded to give 
her meat. And her 
parents were astonish- 
ed : but he charged 
them that they should 
tell no man what was 
done. 






age of twelve years. 
And they were astonish- 
ed with a great astonish- 
ment. And he charged 
them straitly that no 
man should , know it ; 
and commanded that 
something should be 
given her to eat. 



ST MATTHEW. 41 

On comparing here these three accounts of this double 
miracle, we are struck at once with the points of coinci- 
dence as well as diversity which they present. The coin- 
cidence in the narratives of St Mark and St Luke, is such 
as of itself leads us to conclude that the one must have 
had the other in his eye, and followed him not only in 
the main facts, but closely too, and as it were step by step 
in the principal circumstances. If we proceed next to 
compare with both the account left us by St Matthew, we 
shall see how little need there is for the fountain-head 
being sought for in an early lost, or rather never known, 
mother-gospel. That fountain-head we have close at 
hand and in our possession. It is just St Matthew's 
statement, which bears every mark of a first and original, 
and for that very sole reason, summary and general, notice 
of what then took place. He nowhere deals in details. 
While, in Mark and Luke, the ruler of the synagogue 
comes only to complain to our Lord of his child's danger- 
ous illness, and first receives the tidings of her death as 
he is on the way home with the Master, in Matthew we 
read of that decease as mentioned once for all by the 
mouth of her father. No less briefly does he state the 
fact of her restoration to life. The mention of the child's 
age, that of the three apostles and her parents alone being 
present at the miracle, the words of Jesus in performing 
the miracle, the order given by him at the close to give 
the restored daughter something to eat; of all this, so 
minutely detailed by Mark and Luke, Matthew has re- 
corded absolutely nothing. He has to do only with testi- 
fying to the leading fact of the child's restoration to life, 
and that he mentions briefly and forcibly (ver. 25) : He 
went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose; 
with the addition of a trait characteristic of himself alone 



42 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

(ver. 26) : And the fame hereof went abroad through all 
that land. The cure of the woman who had had an issue 
of blood for twelve years, is in like manner related here 
briefly and in its grand outline (ver. 20-22) ; while in St 
Luke, and still more in St Mark, we are presented with 
its most striking and graphic details. 

The conclusion is manifest. St Matthew wrote his 
Gospel first, and that Gospel served as the original source 
for his followers, especially for the two non-apostolical 
Evangelists. The hypothesis that St Mark or St Luke, 
or one of the two, had already written theirs when he 
took up the pen, leads us to this absurdity, that occur- 
rences already recorded by others in their smallest details 
had been recorded once more in a summary, and, as in 
that case may be said, in an incorrect manner by another 
Evangelist, and that Evangelist an Apostle. If, on the 
contrary, we abide by the point of view that has been 
suggested, how simple and natural are all the mutual 
bearings of the case ! The general account of the matter, 
the main story given off-hand as it were, appears first, 
and then come those minute circumstances and particulars 
which we owe to the research of a more elaborate writer, 
who has wished to complete the detail of all that occurred. 
The same analogy, or division of labour, if we may be 
allowed the expression, will be found between the first of 
our Evangelists and his fellow-labourers, with a like con- 
stant exactness in most, indeed in all, the narratives which 
he has in common with them. Any one may be con- 
vinced of this, by applying the example we have selected 
to any other such occurrence or fact, whether it be recorded 
in all the four Evangelists, or in the three first only, or 
only in St Matthew and St Mark, or only in St Matthew 
and St Luke — or even St Matthew and St John. Every 






ST MATTHEW. 43 

where we shall find a confirmation of our remark, that in 
the Apostle, our first Evangelist, lies the foundation of 
the fourfold testimony. Turn, for example, to the account 
of the multiplication of the loaves of bread; 1 the healing 
of the man who was possessed in the country of the Gerge- 
senes; 2 that of the great faith of the Canaanitish woman; 3 
that of the cure of the centurion's servant; 4 that of our 
Lord's walking on the Sea of Galilee, 5 &c. 

In St Mathew's Gospel, accordingly, we have the first 
Gospel, the mother-gospel, the true Ur-Evangelium of the 
Germans. That immediately after him, in order of time 
and succession, St Mark follows, and that of him again St 
Luke makes an ample and manifold, though always free 
and independent, use, will fall to be more completely 
demonstrated when we come to treat of those two Gospels. 
So far, however, as some intimation of this here comports 
with our avowed plan, be it enough to return for a moment 
to the. account of the miracles wrought by our Lord in the 
house of Jairus and on the way to his house. A careful 
comparison of these two Evangelists will, in this as well as 
other instances, demonstrate that St Mark has borrowed 
nothing from St Luke, but that St Luke very certainly 
had the Gospel of St Mark, the friend and representative 
of St Peter, among the sources whence he obtained his ma- 
terials, and that he drew most directly from it. In the 
accounts repeatedly quoted, the two Evangelists very much, 
often indeed literally, coincide. Yet there remains a 
notable diversity over and above that of style. Both 
introduce a multitude of details and minute touches no- 

1 Matt. xiv. 13-21. Mark yi. 30-44. Luke ix. 10-17. John vi. 5-13. 

2 Matt. viii. 23-34. Mark v. 1-20. Luke viii. 26, 27. 

3 Matt. xv. 21-23. Mark vii. 24-30. 

4 Matt. viii. 5-13. Luke vii. 1-10. 

5 Matt. xiv. 22-32. Mark vi. 45-51. 



44 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

where to be found in St Matthew ; still, there are not 
always the same in both. What St Mark adds to St 
Matthew possesses, for the most part, a peculiar force of 
expression, and bears most on the external aspect and 
import of the occurrence ; while St Luke's additions, where 
they differ from St Mark's, go much more into its pith and 
marrow. Thus, for example, St Mark is very full in his 
description of the manner in which the cure of the issue 
of blood was wrought, and the felt effects of the cure (ver. 
29). St Luke does not repeat these details, but, on the 
contrary, mentions carefully and forcibly (ver. 47), that the 
woman declared unto him before all the people for what 
cause she had touched him, and how she was healed 
immediately. Afterwards, in the restoration of the 
damsel to life, St Mark minutely records the very words 
employed by our Lord when he wrought the miracle (ver. 
41). St Luke, on the contrary, and he alone, gives, as a 
proof of the real death of the child that was restored to 
life, a very remarkable particular. Recording the ridicule 
with which the assurance of Jesus, that the child was not 
dead but ivas asleep, was received, he there adds at once 
a most important remark: they laughed him to scorn, 
knowing that she was dead (ver. 53). Now it may 
easily be seen, in matters of this sort, that a Gospel which 
selects and describes details rather after their external 
aspect, has been written in point of time before one which 
contemplates and introduces particular circumstances more 
according to their internal import. The greater the ful- 
ness with which the same fact is described, the more must 
the author who has adopted that greater fulness be sup- 
posed to have written posterior to one who has stated the 
fact in a more general and less fully developed manner. 
But w T ho, after a patient examination, can fail to perceive 



ST MATTHEW. 45 

progression and development in St Luke's manner of 
relating an occurrence after St Mark, just as there is in 
St Mark, in the details he gives, when compared with the 
grand outlines of which St Matthew's Gospel is composed 1 
And now, when we bring together, as if in one focus, 
all that we have observed hitherto with respect to this 
first book in the collection of the New Testament writings, 
what is the result 1 First of all, we find this Gospel 
marked as the work of the Apostle Matthew, by a stamp 
of authenticity which excludes all idea of human contri- 
vance or fiction. This stamp we have found in the manner 
in which the author makes mention of the grace conferred 
on him, and of his calling to the Apostleship, without ever 
naming himself as such, or in any way fixing attention on 
his person. The Gospel of St Matthew is indeed the 
Gospel of the publican converted and called to the apostle- 
ship. Its character, in the second place, is truly apostolic, 
in so far as it contains the expression of the high and 
intimate relationship subsisting between its author and the 
Lord and Master of whom it testifies; — in so far as it 
bears the impress of a truly apostolic authority in virtue 
of the promise of the Holy Spirit, in such a sort that it 
presents events with an entire liberty, not so much accord- 
ing to their historical order or with a literal exactness, 
but according to what was required by its author's position 
and object, and according to a certain internal actuality 
in the thing recorded. In the third place, we have called 
St Matthew's Gospel Israelitic, in as much as it contains 
the special expression of the Old Testament truth with 
respect to the Messiatic character of Jesus, and especially 
of his prophetic greatness and his kingship as the Son of 
David. Finally, we recognised there the first and original 
Gospel, which lays the foundation of all the rest, and from 



46 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

that very circumstance furnishes matter in great abun- 
dance for new evangelical writings, as they came out one 
after the other, in the way of progression and develop- 
ment, from St Matthew to St John. 

Under these four leading peculiarities we may easily 
range all the observations that have been suggested by 
our review of St Matthew's Gospel, and which will offer 
themselves spontaneously when, in the further prosecution 
of our subject, we proceed to compare the other Gospels 
with it and with each other. 

As we do find the principal peculiarities of an Evan- 
gelist indicated by whatever has been written by himself 
alone, or by him in a different manner from that of the 
other Evangelical authors ; so will these peculiarities no 
less significantly reveal themselves for the most part 
when we observe what is not recorded by him, what 
is passed over by him, with more or less evident intent. 
Now, this is the case very obviously with St Matthew. 
What he does not mention at all, or does not mention 
with the same details as the Evangelists who followed 
him, may likewise be accounted for, in a remarkable 
manner, by the fourfold character which we have ob- 
served in his Gospel. Thus, for example, we nowhere 
find there any exact indication of intervals of time, and 
still less of dates, as in St Luke, and in a different way, 
as we shall see hereafter, in St John. Quite as little do 
we find in St Matthew those minute but most significant 
details, and those graphic touches which distinguish the 
Gospel of St Mark. And this we can quite understand. 
Nothing of all this properly belonged to the not so much 
historical as prophetical, not so much descriptive as sum- 
mary and compendious, Gospel of the Apostle-publican — 
in that primary Gospel which presents the rich materials 



ST MATTHEW. 47 

in their first freshness, and, so to speak, nnmoulded 
amplitude. 

In like manner, but owing to another peculiarity 
which we have remarked in St Matthew, in vain do 
we look in his Gospel for any mention of those Samari- 
tans whom we repeatedly find presented to us in so 
interesting a light by St Luke and St John. Once only 
do we find that nation spoken of in St Matthew, and 
that on the occasion of the prohibition made by our 
Lord to his apostles at the time of their being first sent 
out (chap. x. 5). This omission belongs evidently to the 
Israelite character of our first Gospel, which, in con- 
formity with the convictions of the Jews, puts the Sama- 
ritans and the Gentiles on the same level. Whatever of 
a peculiar and striking character that was presented, in 
the full daylight of the gospel, by some of that inter- 
mediate race, did not fall within the plan prescribed for 
St Matthew, who knew no national distinction but that 
betwixt Jews and Gentiles ; nor, for reasons to be after- 
wards given, within that of St Mark. That was reserved 
for mention by the two last of the Evangelists. 

To the apostolic character of the memorials left by St 
Matthew, we must further refer the omission of any notice 
of those seventy disciples of whom St Luke alone makes 
any separate mention. 

In fine, to show how, by such a silence, or intentional 
omission, the Gospel of St Matthew proves itself to be the 
work of the converted publican, the striking parable of 
the Pharisee and the publican is not to be found in St 
Matthew. That parable was too honourable to the kind of 
men to which our first Evangelist belonged, to admit of 
his inserting it in his Gospel. That similitude, as well as 
the conversion of Zaccheus, is found only in St Luke 
(xviii. 9-14 ; xix. 1-10). 



48 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 



We have now to test a little more closely the applica- 
tion of the results we have found, and proceed, in conclu- 
sion, to place in juxtaposition a few passages, with the 
view of showing how the apparent discrepancy betwixt 
St Matthew and his fellow-evangelists is altogether re- 
moved by the mere force of the principles we have 
adduced. 



Matth. iv. 1—11. 
Then was Jesus led up of the 
Spirit into the wilderness to be 
tempted of the devil. And when 
he had fasted forty days and forty 
nights, he was afterwards an hun- 
gered. And when the tempter came 
to him, he said, If thou be the Son 
of God, command that these stones 
be made bread {loaves). But he 
answered and said, It is written, 
Man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that proceedeth 
out of the mouth of God. Then 
the devil taketh him up into the 
holy city, and setteth him on a pin- 
nacle of the temple, and saith unto 
him, If thou be the Son of God, 
cast thyself down, for it is written, 
He shall give his angels charge 
concerning thee ; and in their 
hands they shall bear thee up, lest 
at any time thou dash thy foot 
against a stone. Jesus said unto 
him, It is written again, Thou shalt 
not tempt the Lord thy God. 
Again the devil taketh him up into 
an exceeding high mountain, and 
sheweth him all the kingdoms of 
the world, and the glory of them ; 
and saith unto him, All these 
things will I give thee, if thou wilt 
fall down and worship me. Then 
saith Jesus unto him, Get thee 
hence, Satan : for it is written, 
Thoa shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve. 
Then the devil leaveth him, and, 



Luke iv. 1-13. 
And Jesus, being full of the 
Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, 
and was led by the Spirit into the 
wilderness, being forty days tempt- 
ed of the devil. And in those 
days he did eat nothing : and when 
they were ended, he afterward 
hungered. And the devil said unto 
him, If thou be the Son of God, 
command this stone that it be 
made bread. And Jesus answered 
him, saying, It is written, That 
man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word of God. And 
the devil, taking him up into an 
high mountain, shewed unto him 
all the kingdoms of the world in a 
moment of time. And the devil 
said unto him, All this power will 
I give thee, and the glory of them : 
for that is delivered unto me ; and 
to whomsoever I will I give it. If 
thou therefore wilt worship me, all 
shall be thine. And Jesus answer- 
ed and said unto him, Get thee 
behind me, Satan : for it is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve. 
And he brought him to Jerusalem, 
and set him on a pinnacle of the 
temple, and said unto him, If thou 
be the Son of God, cast thyself 
doivn from hence : for it is writ- 
ten, He shall give his angels charge 
over thee, to keep thee : And in 
their hands they shall bear thee 
up, lest at any time thou dash thy 



ST MATTHEW. 49 

behold, angels came and ministered foot against a stone. And Jesus 
unto him. answering said unto him, It is said, 

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God. And when the devil had 
ended all the temptation, lie de- 
parted from him for a season. 

We shall not be expected to give any exposition or 
explanation here of this most striking and profoundly 
significant narrative. That, indeed, would be quite 
beside the purpose and plan of the views we are now 
elucidating. All we have to do is to compare, in their 
several points of agreement and difference, the accounts 
left us by the two Evangelists. Now, how far does the 
result of that comparison confirm the conclusions we 
have already announced % 

If we read, even with the slightest attention, the two 
Evangelists, we shall at once perceive that the narrative of 
St Luke is taken from that of St Matthew — that St Luke 
must have had the first of our Gospels before him, and 
made use of it as the basis of his own account, giving at 
the same time more precision to that account. We see, too, 
that he follows a different arrangement, more in conformity 
with the order in which the incidents actually occurred. 

Let us see first what the difference in detail is. 

St Matthew, first of all, makes use here of his favourite 
plural (ver. 3, stoxes, loaves) in cases where St Luke 
employs the singular : Command this stone that it be- 
come a loaf. St Matthew (verse 4), in pursuance of 
his Israelitic and Old Testament principle, quotes the 
words of Moses 1 in fuller terms than St Luke. Thus, 
too, in accordance with Israelitic usage, he speaks of the 
holy city, 2 called by St Luke (ver. 9) simply Jerusalem, 

1 Deut. viii. 3. 

2 In another place, it is called in St Matthew the city of the great Kirn/, 
v. 35 ; Ps. xlviii. 3. 

D 



50 THE FOFE WITNESSES. 

The latter goes more into details both as respects acces- 
sory circumstances, as when (ver. 8) he says, In a mo- 
ment of time ; or in accounting for some detail or expres- 
sion found in St Matthew without any such addition, as 
(ver. 6) where he brings out more clearly the nature of 
the power over this world delivered unto Satan. Whilst 
St Matthew (ver. 11) speaks not without allusion to one 
of the Psalms, 1 of the ministration of the angels offered 
unto Jesus ; St Luke, on the contrary, concludes with the 
remark, that the devil departed from him for a season 
(ver. 13), having an eye to the sequel of his history, 
where (chap. xx. ver. 53) he relates how, in our Lord's 
passion, the powers of darkness were again for some 
hours to be let loose against their vanquisher, who had 
disarmed them in the wilderness. 

But on comparing the two Gospels a difference occurs 
of more importance than the discrepancies just men- 
tioned — a difference in the order in which the three 
temptations took place. With respect to that presented 
in the words, If thou be the Son of God, command that 
these stones be made bread, both Evangelists agree in 
its having been certainly the first that was attempted by 
the enemy after the forty days' fast. But the two 
Gospels pursue a different order in the two that follow. 
While in St Matthew the proposal that our Lord should 
cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple pre- 
cedes, and the offer of this world's kingdoms closes the 
temptations, we find this order inversed in St Luke. 
Some have been found who preferred the order followed 
by St Matthew, as supported by the nature of the thing; 
for, according to them, the offer of this world's kingdoms 
must have been most seductive, the temptations (as we 

1 Ps. xci. and others. Compare Heb. i. 6, and John i. 2. 



ST MATTHEW. 51 

willingly admit) naturally augmenting as they proceed. 
But the nature of things more deeply studied leads us to 
perceive this gradation precisely in the succession as 
foimd in St Luke. For, in point of fact, the tempta- 
tion which seemed to propose that our Lord should give 
a proof of courage, of faith, and of confidence in God, in 
trusting implicitly to a passage taken from the Holy 
Scriptures, was certainly of a stronger, or, if you will, a 
more subtle kind than even the offer of this world's 
kingdoms, under the condition of worshipping the Prince 
of this world. Many souls that have been able to resist 
the temptations presented by this world's honours and 
splendours, or who have been insensible to them, hare 
allowed themselves to be caught in the snares of spiritual 
pride, that is to say, of an imaginary confidence, wanting 
in the indispensable requisites of obedience to God, and 
dependence on God. That the Anointed One should in 
this, as well as other respects, remain immaculate and 
perfect, behoved to be shewn just in the resistance to 
this last temptation, so spiritual in its outward aspect. 
In yet another point of view, this assault is proved to 
have been the severest and the last. Twice had they 
been repelled simply by an appeal to God's word — It is 
written. The enemy himself makes the third, as if in his 
turn appealing to Scripture, though by an abuse of it. 
But this assault, as well as the two first, is repelled by 
our Lord's availing himself of that same weapon, even 
the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God — It is ivritten 
again; or as Luke has it, not without emphasis — It is 
said, as if he would hint, that in quoting Scripture the 
gist and force of the matter lie, not in the bare wording 
of the passage, but in its purport and connexion, as 
being God's saying. 



52 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

Thus, then, we have in St Luke evidently enough the 
true historical order. But how shall we account for St 
Matthew's having departed from that order ? We have 
already explained how the historical succession of events 
is never with him the chief affair that he has to do with 
— never the object he has in view. What he gives is 
the occurrence in inseparable connexion, nay, thoroughly 
mingled, as it were, with the impression with which it 
affected his own soul. And that impression in the case 
of St Matthew (in whose Gospel the kingship of Jesus 
Christ occupies the first place), is produced most of all by 
the idea of the kingdoms of the world (ver. 8). Those 
kingdoms belonged of right to Jesus ; one day they 
would become actually his : here they are offered to him 
by the tempter, the Prince of this world. These com- 
bined ideas give in St Matthew all the deeper significance 
to this second temptation. Hence it seems as if spon- 
taneously to range itself under his pen in that place 
which, though the last, is here the highest place. And 
perhaps it is in this association of ideas that he imme- 
diately follows up this temptation, which he places last, 
with the interesting circumstances to which we have 
already alluded — The devil leaveth him, and, behold, 
angels came and ministered to him. 

It surely follows from all this, that there is really no 
actual contradiction between St Matthew and St Luke. 
In the facts related they agree : there is a difference only 
in the point of view from which they are contemplated. 
The narrative is in each case consistent with its own 
object and principle — the historical with St Luke, the 
spiritual with St Matthew. And here the diversity as 
well as the agreement proves anew, in the simplest and 









ST MATTHEW. 



53 



most natural manner, the truth, the genuineness, and the 
authenticity of the facts related. 

A second opportunity of testing the application of our 
principles for discovering the harmony of the Gospels, is 
supplied by an occurrence, which we place, as related by 
the Evangelist St Mark, over against the account of it 
left by St Matthew. We refer to the beheading of St 
John the Baptist. 



Matth. xiv. 1—12. 
At that time Herod the tetrarch 
heard of the fame of Jesus, and 
said unto his servants, This is John 
the Baptist : he is arisen from the 
dead ; and therefore mighty works 
do shew forth themselves in him. 



For Herod had laid hold on 
John, and bound him, and put 
him in prison for Herodias' sake, 
his brother Philip's wife. 

For John said unto him, It is 
not lawful for thee to have her. 

And when he would have put 
him to death, he feared the multi- 
tude, because they counted him as a 
prophet. 



But when Herod's birthday was 
kept, the daughter of Herodias 
danced before them, and pleased 
Herod. 



Mark vi. 14-29. 

And king Herod heard of him ; 
(for his name was spread abroad ;) 
and he said, That John the Bap- 
tist was arisen from the dead, and 
therefore mighty works do shew 
forth themselves in him. Others 
said, That it is Elias. And others 
said, That it is a prophet, or as one 
of the prophets. But when Herod 
heard thereof, he said, It is John, 
whom I beheaded: he is risen 
from the dead. 

For Herod himself had sent 
forth and laid hold upon John, and 
bound him in prison for Herodias' 
sake, his brother Philip's wife ; for 
he had married her. 

For John had said unto Herod, 
It is not lawful for thee to have 
thy brother's wife. 

Therefore Herodias had a quarrel 
against him, and would have killed 
him; but she could not: for Herod 
feared John, knowing that he was 
a just man and an holy, and ob- 
served him; and when he heard 
him, he did many things, and heard 
him gladly. 

And when a convenient day was 
come, that Herod, on his birthday, 
made a supper to his lords, high 
captains, and chief estates of Gali- 
lee; and when the daughter of 
the said Herodias came in, and 



54 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



Whereupon he promised with an 
oath to give her whatsoever she 
would ask. And she, being before 
instructed of her mother, said, Give 
me here John Baptist's head in a 
charger. 



And the king was sorry ; never- 
theless for the oath's sake, and 
them which sat with him at meat, 
he commanded it to be given her. 
And he sent and beheaded John 
in the prison. 



And his head was brought in a 
charger, and given to the damsel : 
and she brought it to her mother. 

And his disciples came and took 
up the body, and buried it, and 
went and told Jesus. 



danced, and pleased Herod, and 
them that sat with him, the king 
said unto the damsel, Ask of me 
whatsoever thou wilt, and I will 
give it thee. 

And he sware unto her, Whatso- 
ever thou shalt ask of me, I will 
give it thee, unto the half of my 
kingdom. And she went forth and 
said unto her mother, What shall 
I ask? And she said, The head of 
John the Baptist. And she came 
in straightway with haste unto the 
king, and asked, saying, I will that 
thou give me, by and by, in a 
charger, the head of John the Bap- 
tist. 

And the king was exceeding 
sorry ; yet for his oath's sake, and 
for their sakes which sat with him, 
he would not reject her. And im- 
mediately the king sent an execu- 
tioner, and commanded his head to 
be brought : and he went and be- 
headed him in the prison. 

And brought his head in a 
charger, and gave it to the damsel: 
and the damsel gave it to her 
mother. 

And when his disciples heard of 
it, they came and took up his corpse, 
and laid it in a tomb. 






Here, again, a comparison of the two Evangelists pro- 
duces the same result that we had before obtained. The 
agreement between the two accounts is manifest. Shall 
we regard this agreement as merely the consequence of 
an inspiration literally alike in both % Whence, then, 
the difference 1 Shall we ascribe it to their being both 
derived from one original source existing apart from the 
four Gospels % How much simpler what we have sup- 
posed, that the one Evangelist has drawn from the other, 
and thus that St Matthew, having been the first Evan- 



ST MATTHEW. 55 

gelist in the order of time, St Mark afterwards repeated 
his predecessor s more general narrative in greater detail, 
by adding the more minute and exact circmnstances of 
the occurrence, with an equally certain knowledge of 
those circumstances, and equally under the guidance of 
the Holy Ghost. These particular circumstances, these 
minute features of the case, are again found in St Mark 
to be many : such as, the very words addressed by the 
king to the daughter of Herodias (ver. 22), together 
with the precise terms of his oath (ver. 23) ; the fuller 
account of what passed between the mother and the 
daughter (ver. 24, 25) ; the mention of the executioner 
(ver. 27) — particulars all marked with a character of 
peculiar artlessness, such as places the authenticity of the 
narrative beyond all suspicion. To this we shall return 
in treating more specially of the Gospel of St Mark. 

Some, however, see here a great discrepancy between 
the two Evangelists on a leading point. They will have 
it that the feelings of Herod towards John the Baptist 
are represented as essentially different by St Mark from 
what appears in St Matthew. "While, according to the 
latter, Herod desired the death of John the Baptist, but 
could not make up his mind to slay him because he 
feared the multitude, by whom he was accounted a pro- 
phet (ver. 5) ; in St Mark it is Herodias alone that aims 
at having John's life, but cannot accomplish what she 
desires, because her husband stands in awe of him as 
a holy man, hearing him even often, and doing many 
things as he advised (ver. 19, 20). 

This seeming contradiction finds its complete solution 
in the character of St Matthew's Gospel as gathered from 
the peculiarities that distinguish it. As that Gospel 
always views things in their grand general aspect, it 



56 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

gives prominence in the first place to the popular 
opinions entertained with respect to the Baptist, and the 
influence of that opinion upon Herod. But does this in 
the slightest degree exclude those conflicting, variable 
sentiments which might agitate Herod as a man, as they 
would reveal themselves at his court % Now, it is with 
regard to these last that St Mark informs us. And all 
perfectly tallies together. The multitude had a great 
veneration for John : this was what first impressed 
Herod, and prevented him from putting him to death. 
That he had the will to do so, is what Matthew tells us 
very generally, according to his usual manner. But 
Mark follows this up by explaining how Herod came 
to have that will, and how it was modified by his per- 
sonal feelings. It arose from the influence exercised by 
Heroclias over the king's mind and counsels. Thus 
impelled alternately by contrary impressions, Herod felt 
besides in his own heart, and in his own conscience, the 
force of the Baptist's words and authority. Can we 
wonder that, as he was not destitute of feeling, and even 
of religious feeling, he should, notwithstanding the sug- 
gestions of Herodias, find it impossible to suppress his 
esteem for the prophet, nay, hear him with some degree 
of pleasure, and even follow at times his advice 1 To 
be willing at once to gratify the resentment of a godless 
woman, and to spare the Baptist, from respect both 
to the people's conscience and his own, was just what 
might have been expected in that peace-loving prince, as 
he is described by Josephus. All this is so simple, so 
consistent with all we know of human nature, that, 
viewed in its true light, there remains not the shadow of 
a contradiction or difficulty. But betwixt St Matthew 
and St Mark there remains this characteristic difference : 



ST MATTHEW. 



57 



that the former represents the king to us more in con- 
nection with the people, but also still more as, through 
weakness of character, the accomplice of his wife in her 
hatred of John; whereas the latter, on the contrary, 
represents him to us more as he appeared in the interior 
of his court, and in the difference which always really 
subsisted between the king's sentiments and those of 
Herodias. 

As in the account of the beheading of the Baptist we 
have placed St Matthew and St Mark oyer against each 
other, and sought an explanation of their points of dif- 
ference in the object and character that belonged to each 
of them individually ; so we proceed now to observe how 
another kind of apparent contradiction between details 
given by St Matthew, St Mark, and St Luke, may be 
resolved by the simple application of the principles we 
have laid down. All three speak of the Saviour's cast- 
ing out of a great many evil spirits in the country of the 
Gergesenes, in the following narratives : — 



Matth. viii. 28-34. 
And when lie was 
come to the other side, 
into the country of the 
Gergesenes, there met 
him two possessed with 
devils, coming out of 
the tombs, exceeding 
fierce, so that no man 
might pass by that way. 



Maek v. 1-20. 
And they came over 
unto the other side 
of the sea, into the 
country of the Gada- 
renes. And when he 
was come out of the 
ship, immediately there 
met him out of the 
tombs a man with an 
unclean spirit, who had 
his dwelling among the 
tombs ; and no man 
could bind him, no, 
not with chains : be- 
cause that he had been 
often bound with fet- 
ters and chains, and 
the chains had been 
plucked asunder by 
him. and the fetters 



Luke viii. 26-39. 

And they arrived 
at the country of the 
Gadarenes, which is 
over against Galilee. 
And when he went 
forth to land, there 
met him out of the city 
a certain man which 
had devils long time, 
and ware no clothes, 
neither abode in any 
house, but in the 
tombs. 



58 



THE .FOUR WITNESSES. 



And, behold, they 
cried out, saying, What 
have we to do with 
thee, Jesus, thou Son 
of God ? art thou come 
hither to torment us 
before the time ? 



And there was a 
good way off from them 
an herd of many swine 
feeding. So the devils 
besought him, saying, 
If thou cast us out, 
suffer us to go away 
into the herd of swine. 
And he said unto them, 
Go. And when they 
were come out, they 
went into the herd of 



broken in pieces : nei- 
ther could any man 
tame him. And al- 
ways day and night he 
was in the mountains 
and in the tombs, cry- 
ing and cutting himself 
with stones. 

But when he saw 
Jesus afar off, he ran 
and worshipped him, 
And cried with a loud 
voice, and said, What 
have I to do with thee, 
Jesus, thou Son of the 
most high God? I 
adjure thee by God, 
that thou torment me 
not. For he said unto 
him, Come out of the 
man, thou unclean 
spirit. And he asked 
him, What is thy 
name? And he an- 
swered, saying, My 
name is Legion, for 
we are many. And 
he besought him much 
that he would not send 
them away out of the 
country. 



Now there was there 
nigh unto the moun- 
tains a great herd of 
swine feeding. And 
all the devils besought 
him, saying, Send us 
into the swine, that 
we may enter into them. 
And forthwith Jesus 
gave them leave. And 
the unclean spirits 
went out, and entered 



When he saw Jesus, 
he cried out, and fell 
down before him, and 
with a loud voice said, 
What have i" to do 
with thee, Jesus, thou 
Son of God most high ? 
/beseech thee, torment 
me not. For he had 
commanded the un- 
clean spirit to come 
out of the man. (For 
oftentimes it had 
caught him ; and he 
was kept bound with 
chains, and in fetters ; 
and he brake the bands, 
and was driven of the 
devil into the wilder- 
ness.) And Jesus 
asked him, saying, 
What is thy name ? 
And he said, Legion ; 
because many devils 
were entered into him. 
And they besought 
him that he would not 
command them to go 
out into the deep. 

And there was there 
an herd of many swine 
feeding on the moun- 
tain : and they be- 
sought him that he 
would suffer them to 
enter into them. And 
he suffered them. Then 
went the devils out of 
the man, and entered 
into the swine: and 
the herd ran violentlv 






ST MATTHEW. 



59 



swine ; and, behold, 
the whole herd of swine 
ran violently down a 
steep place into the 
sea, and perished in 
the waters. And they 
that kept them fled, 
and went their ways 
into the city, and told 
every thing, and what 
was befallen to the pos- 
sessed (pi.) of the devils. 
And, behold, the whole 
city came out to meet 
Jesus ; and when they 
saw him, they besought 
him that he would 
depart out of their 
coasts. 



into the swine : and 
the herd ran violently 
down a steep place into 
the sea, (they were 
about two thousand,) 
and were choked in the 
sea. And they that 
fed the swine fled, and 
told it in the city, and 
in the country. And 
they went out to see 
what it was that was 
done. And they came 
to Jesus, and see him 
that was possessed with 
the devil, and had the 
legion, sitting, and 
clothed, and in his 
right mind ; and they 
were afraid. And they 
that saw it told them 
how it befell to him 
that was possessed with 
the devil, and also 
concerning the swine. 
And they began to 
pray him to depart out 
of their coasts. 

And when he was 
come into the ship, he 
that had been possess- 
ed with the devil 
prayed him that he 
might be with him. 
Howbeit Jesus suffered 
him not, but saith unto 
him, Go home to thy 
friends, and tell them 
how great things the 
Lord hath done for 
thee, and hath had 
compassion on thee. 
And he departed, and 
began to publish in 
Decapolis how great 
things Jesus had done 
for him; and all meu 
did marvel. 



down a steep place 
into the lake, and were 
choked. TThen they 
that fed them saw 
what was done, they 
fled, and went and told 
it in the city, and in 
the country. Then 
they went out to see 
what was done ; and 
came to Jesus, and 
found the man out of 
whom the devils were 
departed, sitting at the 
feet of Jesus, clothed, 
and in his right mind ; 
and they were afraid. 
They also which saw 
it told them by what 
means he that was pos- 
sessed of the devils was 
healed. Thenthe whole 
multitude of the coun- 
try of the Gadarenes 
round about besought 
him to depart from 
them ; for they were 
taken with great fear. 
And he went up 
into the ship, and re- 
turned back again. 
Now the man out of 
whom the devils were 
departed besought him 
that he might be with 
him ; but Jesus sent 
him away, saying, 
Return to thine own 
house, and shew how 
great things God hath 
done unto thee. And 
he went his way, and 
published throughout 
the whole city how 
great things Jesus had 
done unto Mm. 



60 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Here again we have the same phenomena as those 
presented by the preceding comparison. In St Matthew 
we have what occurred on this occasion related sum- 
marily and briefly — in St Mark, more fully and with all 
the particulars — in St Luke, the same, as he follows 
in the footsteps of St Mark, only with the omission of all 
that seems too much of graphic detail for his historical 
narrative. 

But here, not merely a difference, but a positive and 
manifest contradiction appears betwixt St Matthew and 
the two Evangelists that follow. According to St Mat- 
thew, there were here two demoniacs delivered from the 
evil spirit ; according to St Mark and St Luke, there was 
only one* In order to remove the discrepancy, most 
authors of the Harmonies, and most expositors, have 
thought it enough to consider the one mentioned by the 
two Evangelists as the principal, or the most interesting, 
or the most tormented, who on that account alone de- 
served consideration and mention by those two writers. 
But on what external or internal basis rests this dis- 
tinction, which, as the text gives no indication of it 
whatever, must be considered purely arbitrary \ 

Let us endeavour, in looking for a solution, to keep 
simply to the principles we have laid down. And then 
we have at once, in the twofold and accordant testimony 
of St Mark and St Luke, as it lies before us in its plain 
circumstantiality, the fullest guarantee that the occur- 
rence has been recorded by them in its full historical 
reality — that, consequently, the miracle was confined to 
one possessed person only. Whence, then, comes there 
to be the number two in St Matthew 1 The answer is 
very simple. It comes from his peculiar manner of em- 
ploying the plural, a peculiarity every way accordant 



ST MATTHEW. 61 

with his relating things in a general way. But why pre- 
cisely in this instance, in so particular and so extraor- 
dinary a case, have we not only the plural, but the 
number two % To explain the use made by St Matthew 
in this passage of the number of two instead of that of 
one, we should have recourse, in connexion with the 
whole narrative, to another peculiarity already noticed 
in the Evangelist. He delineates things (as we have 
seen above) just as they occurred in his presence, and as 
they caught his eye ; what he puts in writing is, so to 
speak, his recollection, his impression. Let us, then, put 
ourselves only in the place from which he himself saw 
what passed, and from which, consequently, his account 
gives us this narrative of the demoniac who was dispos- 
sessed by Jesus. He accompanied our Lord at the time 
of his passing over to the country of the Gergesenes, and 
when, immediately thereafter (Mark v. 2), the person 
who was possessed met him or came within view. Now, 
let us merely suppose that the possessed person, when 
first seen by our Lord and his apostles, had attacked 
some passenger, and was just then struggling with him. 
Seen at the first glance along with the man whom he 
had attacked, the possessed person would seem at a dis- 
tance to be not one possessed person only, but presented 
the appearance of there being two. Putting down this 
impression, this recollection, of the first glance directed 
to the scene from a distance, St Matthew speaks of two 
possessed persons, because he saw two men in the 
power of those unclean spirits, one the possessed person 
himself, the oilier attacked by the possessed person. 
Thus, in fact, in some sort two men were delivered by 
the powerful intervention of Jesus, and whom the gene- 



62 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

ral account left by St Matthew readily comprises under 
the same term of possessed persons. 

We must on no account imagine that the Holy Ghost 
has in this manner confirmed or permitted an incorrect 
statement, or one that is devoid of truth. Here, as we 
have already said, we must not allow ourselves to think 
of any misrecollection or inaccuracy. There is design, 
consistency, and significance, in the discrepancy before 
us. St Matthew very well knew that his two were in 
reality only one. But it was fitting that he should present 
the fact to us in its external aspect, and that the two 
other Evangelists who follow should describe the same 
fact in its objective reality. 

But shall we be told that all this hypothesis of the person 
passing being attacked by the possessed person is the mere 
creature of one's arbitrary imagination % No ! St Mat- 
thew himself hints it to us by a single detail of apparently 
secondary, but here really of great importance in the har- 
monizing of the Evangelists. Let us note what he says 
(ver. 28), that no man might pass that way, because of 
the ferocity of the person who was possessed by the devil. 

This solution of the apparent contradiction between the 
number of two in St Matthew, and the singular of the 
other two Evangelists that follow, receives a further con- 
firmation from a like instance of difference, at first sight 
irreconcilable, but erelong finding its most simple solu- 
tion in the very nature of the thing. We refer to the 
healing of the blind man by Jesus outside of the gates of 
Jericho, related by the three first Evangelists as follows : — 

Matth. xx. 29-34. Makk x. 46-52. Luke xviii. 35-43. 

And as they de- And they came to And it came to 
parted from Jericho, a Jericho : and as he pass, that, as he was 



ST MATTHEW 



63 



great multitude follow- 
ed him. And, behold, 
two blind men, sitting 
by the icayside, when 
they heard that Jesus 
passed by, cried out, 
saying, Have mercy on 
us, Lord, thou son 
of David. Andthe mul- 
titude rebuked them, 
because they should 
hold their peace : but 
they cried the more, 
saying, Have mercy on 
us, Lord, thou son 
of David. And Jesus 
stood still, and called 
them, and said, What 
will ye that I shall do 
unto you? They say 
unto him, Lord, that 
our eyes may be open- 
ed. So Jesus had com- 
passion on them, and 
touched their eyes : and 
immediately their eyes 
received sight, and they 
folloAved him. 



went out of Jericho 
with his disciples, and 
a great number of 
people, blind Bartime- 
us, the son of Timeus, 
sat by the highway - 
side begging. And 
when he heard that it 
was Jesus of Nazareth, 
he began to cry out, 
and say, Jesus, thou 
son of David, have 
mercy on me. And 
many charged him that 
he should hold his 
peace : but he cried 
the more a great deal, 
Thou son of David, have 
mercy on me. And 
Jesus stood still, and 
commanded him to be 
called. And they call 
the blind man, saying, 
Be of good comfort, rise; 
he calleth thee. And 
he, casting away his 
garment, rose, and 
came to Jesus. And 
Jesus answered and 
said unto him, What 
wilt thou that I should 
do unto thee? The 
blind man said unto 
him, Lord, that /might 
receive my sight. And 
Jesus said unto him, 
Go thy way ; thy faith 
hath made thee whole. 
And immediately he 
received his sight, and 
followed Jesus in the 
way. 



come nigh unto Jericho, 
a certain blind man sat 
by the wayside begging. 
And hearing the mul- 
titude pass by, he asked 
what it meant. And 
they told him that 
Jesus of Nazareth pass- 
eth by. And he cried, 
saying, Jesus, thou son 
of David, have mercy 
on me. And they 
which went before re- 
buked him, that he 
should hold his peace : 
but he cried so much 
the more, Thou son of 
David, have mercy on 
me. And Jesus stood, 
and commanded him to 
be brought unto him : 
and when he was come 
near, he asked him, 
saying, What wilt thou 
that I shall do unto 
thee? And he said, 
Lord, that I may re- 
ceive my sight. And 
Jesus said unto him, 
Receive thy sight : thy 
faith hath saved thee. 
And immediately he 
received his sight, and 
followed him, glorify- 
ing God : and all the 
people, when they saw 
it, gave praise unto 
God. 



Here we have anew the same phenomena as in the 
account of the possessed person. In St Matthew the 
story is put down briefly and substantially; in St Mark, 



64 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

with the most minute details : for instance, we have the 
name of the blind man (ver. 46), and the way in which 
he was called to Jesus and drew near to him (ver. 49, 50). 
St Luke's narrative perfectly agrees with that of St Mark, 
only it is a little more concise, and with the addition at 
the close of that interesting remark, that he that was 
healed followed Jesus, glorifying God: and all the people, 
when they saw it, gave praise unto God (ver. 43.) And 
then we have the same apparent discrepancy betwixt St 
Matthew and his two fellow Evangelists with respect to 
the number : one blind person being spoken of by them, 
whereas he mentions two. It is clear at once, that, put-' 
ting the testimonies of St Mark and St Luke together, 
we must conclude that there was but one cure and but one 
blind person in the case. Why should these two Evan- 
gelists reduce the number two to one only, if St Matthew 
must indeed be understood literally'? We have a very 
good reason to account for the appearance of the number 
two in the latter. He, no doubt, identified in his descrip- 
tion the blind man with his conductor. When, as he 
accompanied Jesus, the cry from the blind man reached 
his ears, it might naturally seem to come from two persons 
instead of one, and it is that impression, not the actual 
fact in itself, that he describes. Certainly one can no 
otherwise explain another couple of blind persons in St 
Matthew (ix. 27-31), of whom it is said that they followed 
Jesus, praying that he would heal them. If there be any 
truth in the saying recorded in Scripture, 1 If the blind 
lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch ; — what more 
unreasonable than to suppose that two blind men should 
have ventured out together on the highway, and should 
have followed Jesus even into the house f What more 

1 Matth. xv. 14. 



ST MATTHEW. 65 

simple, on the contrary, than that in the narrative of the 
Evangelist, both here and in that other place, the blind 
and his leader should have been identified from being so 
intimately associated together \ 

A second apparent contradiction in the accounts of the 
cure of Baktdleus, near Jericho, bears upon the circum- 
stances of time and place. St Matthew, who in this too 
is followed by St Mark, makes the occurrence take place 
at the departure from the city, or rather mentions it after 
he had spoken of the departure of Jesus and his disciples 
(ver. 29). St Luke, in his more exact concatenation of 
events, which is evident from what immediately follows 
(xix. 1-10), makes it happen at our Lord's approach to 
Jericho. The solution of the difficulty is easy. St Mat- 
thew does not ordinarily occupy himself much with any 
rigorous determination of time or place. His expression 
(ver. 29) does not bear immediately on the account of the 
cure of the blind which follows it, but generally to the 
passing of Jesus through Jericho. Then, as if from asso- 
ciation of ideas and recollections, he, so to speak, retraces 
his steps, and relates an incident that had occurred at 
that same time before Jericho. St Mark, unless in the 
case of some circumstance having an important bearing 
on the course he had laid out for himself, does not ordi- 
narily make any change in the tradition handed down by 
St Matthew. St Luke, in his historical exposition, relates 
all in its true place. 



66 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



III. ST MARK 



As the first of our Gospels has been attributed by the 
consentient voice of antiquity to St Matthew, so has the 
second, in like manner, been ascribed to St- Mask. This 
Evangelist, the disciple, the servant, and the interpreter of 
St Peter, as he is designed by certain ancient fathers of 
the Church, is called by that Apostle himself at the close 
of his first Epistle (ver. 13), in a spiritual and evangelical 
sense, his son. Indirectly, therefore, and saving always 
the higher guidance of the Holy Ghost, this Gospel was 
compiled under the manifest influence — that is, according 
to the oral testimony and personal communications of St 
Peter, and in this sense as if under his inspection; just 
as we shall hereafter see that the Gospel of St Luke was, 
in like manner, composed in some such, though a differ- 
ently modified, connexion with St Paul. The whole of 
our second Gospel bears the most evident marks of this 
leading characteristic of its author. With St Matthew's 
Gospel before him, St Mark wrote his own, with the fur- 
ther aid of St Peter's directions and elucidations. Thus 
the latter is the fruit, so to speak, of two testimonies, 
which meet, coalesce, and mutually confirm each other — 
the testimony of St Peter and that of St Matthew. We 
shall best begin our present examination, we believe, with 



ST MARK. 67 

certain passages illustrative of the very intimate relation- 
ship that subsisted between the Gospel of St Mark and 
the Apostle Peter. 

At the very opening of this Gospel some have thought 
they could trace a certain resemblance to a discourse of 
St Peter's, as we find it recorded in the Acts of the 
Apostles (x. 35, &c.) Both, at least, make the Gospel 
history commence with the preaching of the Baptist (Mark 
i. 2). A comparison of these passages comprises some- 
thing more perhaps, to which we shall return again, but 
for the present will pursue the matter no further. The 
intimate relationship between our second Evangelist and 
St Peter at all events remains evident. We often find 
St Peter mentioned specially and by name, and in more 
than one place he is referred to as an eyewitness; — it 
is only in St Mark's Gospel that we find him specially 
named in circumstances which involved any thing that 
particularly interested that Apostle's heart or memory. 
Thus, for example, when St Mark and St Luke relate in 
what manner our Lord was sought by his disciples in the 
solitary place, when he prayed in the morning very early, 
the former makes express mention of Simon, the latter 
speaks of the people generally. 

Maek i. 35, 36. Luke iv. 42. 

And in the morning, rising up And when it was day, he de- 

a great while before day, he went parted, and went into a desert 

out, and departed into a solitary place : and the people sought him 

place, and there prayed. And (Gr., eVe^row), and came unto 

Simon, and they that were with him, him, and stayed him, that he should 

followed after him. (In the Greek not depart from them, 
the word is still stronger : kclts- 
Sioo£az/, hunted after him.) 

Here it is clear that St Mark points to St Peter as an 
eyewitness and participant in what took place, and the 
original authority from whom he had learned this detail. 



68 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

In the narrative of the fig-tree that was cursed, this is 
still more evident and striking. Among other details by 
which the more circumstantial account of St Mark (xi. 
11-14 and 19-24) differs from that of St Matthew (xxi. 
1 7-27), we find this : That the first disciple that perceived 
the drying up of the fig-tree, and made an exclamation 
about it to our Lord, was Peter. 

Matth. xxi. 20. Mask xi. 21. 

And when the disciples saw it, And Peter, calling to remein- 
they marvelled, saying, How soon brance, saith unto him, Master, 
is the fig-tree withered away ! behold the fig-tree which thou 

cursedst is withered away. 

Is it not also as if from the mouth of St Peter that St 
Mark alone gives the names of the four apostles who in- 
quire of our Lord about the time when the temple was to 
be destroyed 1 

Matth. xxiv. 3. Makk xiii. 3. Luke xxi. 7. 

And as he sat upon And as he sat upon Some asked, say- 
the mount of Olives, the mount of Olives, ing, Master, but when 
the disciples came unto over against the tern- shall these things be? 
him privately, saying, pie, Peter, and James, 
Tell us, when shall and John, and An- 
these things be ? drew, asked him pri- 

vately, Tell us, when 
shall these things be ? 

Least of all, assuredly, can we fail to recognise St 
Peter's instructions and influence in the account of that 
Apostle's denying our Lord, which in St Mark alone is 
related with that strikingly significant circumstance, 
that the cock crew twice before the Apostle's conscience 
awoke to repentance, 1 and (not without an allusion to 
that dreadful moment) the expression of the angel's at 
the time of the resurrection, which again we find only in 
St Mark : and to Peter ! 

1 Matth. xxvi. 34, 75 ; Luke xxii. 34, 61 ; John xiii. 33, xviii. 27, compared 
with Mark xiv. 30, and 63, 72. 



ST MARK. 69 

Matth. xxviii. 7. Maek xvi. 7. 

And go quickly, and tell his But go jour way, tell his dis- 

disciples that lie is risen from the ciples axd Peter that he goeth 

dead ; and behold he goeth before before you into Galilee, 
you into Galilee. 

Thus, then, the Gospel of St Mark is intimately asso- 
ciated with the Apostle St Peter, with respect to whom 
we find in it the most touching particulars that could 
affect his heart, so that one might suppose that he him- 
self had written it ; those only being excepted which 
might have seemed to raise St Peter too much above the 
rest. Thus, for example, St Mark does not record that 
St Peter, on hearing our Lord's voice, walked out upon 
the sea in the memorable night so circumstantially de- 
scribed by St Matthew. 1 It was because his doing so, 
although the faith and courage that led him to it were 
soon after alloyed with unbelief, marked him out per- 
sonally too much from among his fellow-apostles. 

Yet the author of our second Gospel must have been 
intimately associated not only with St Peter, but quite 
as particularly with St Paid, were it true, as is now gene- 
rally understood, though without much inquiry or suffi- 
cient attention to the consequences of such an hypothesis, 
that our St Mark, St Peters son in the faith, was the 
same person as the John surnamed Mark whom we meet 
with again and again in the Acts of the Apostles, and in 
St Paul's Epistles. 2 We hope, by means of a special 
inquiry into the authorship of this Gospel, to shew anon 
how directly opposed are the character and style which 
it exhibits, to all that is told us of John Mark in the 
Acts of the Apostles. Meanwhile we think it enough to 
remark as follows : first, how extremely improbable it is 

1 Matth. xiv. 28, 31, and Mark vi. 48, 51. 

2 Acts xii. 12, xiii. 5, 13, xv. 37, 39 } Col. iv. 10 ; 2 Tim. iv. 11 ; Phil. ii. 4. 



70 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

that one and the same Mark should be found either simul- 
taneously, or (which is hardly possible) alternatively, 
holding the same relations with both the Apostles Peter 
and Paul, men so distinct and so remote from each other 
in their apostolical calling and operations ; secondly, that 
similarity of name does not in the slightest degree prove 
identity of person. Let us recollect, for example, the list 
of the Apostles, which, in a catalogue of twelve persons, 
presents no fewer than thrice, two persons bearing the 
same name — (two Simons, two Jameses, and two Judases) ; 
whilst, in the third place, antiquity, which ascribes our 
Gospel to St Mark the son of Peter, does not give us any 
reason to suppose that it ever considered him as the same 
Mark whom St Paul much rather distinguishes than 
identifies with our Evangelist, by qualifying his name 
with the addition, sister's son to Barnabas. — (Col. 
iv. 10). 

But setting aside this question for the present, we now 
proceed to occupy ourselves exclusively with the exami- 
nation of the particular character which is presented to 
us by the Gospel second in rank among the four, and by 
which it differs from its two fellow synoptical Gospels in 
a far more important and peculiar manner than has long, 
we suspect, been imagined. In order to have a first 
general idea of this essential difference, we shall again 
avail ourselves of the simple method of comparison 
among some parallel narratives, as they appear in St 
Mark, and the first and third Evangelist. Let us read 
for this purpose, and in this manner, the narrative of the 
transfiguration on the mount, as found in the three first 
Gospels, preceded by that of the apostolical confession 
respecting the Messiahship of Jesus, and followed by the 
account of the healing of the lunatic child. 



ST MARK. 



71 



Matth. xvi. 13. 

When Jesus came 
into the coasts of 
Csesarea Philippi, he 
asked his disciples, 
saying, Whom do men 
say that I the Son of 
man am? 14. And 
they said, Some say 
that thou art John the 
Baptist ; some, Elias ; 
and others, Jeremias, 
or one of the prophets. 
15. He saith unto 
them, But whom say 
ye that I am? 16. 
And Simon Peter an- 
swered and said, Thou 
art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God. 17. 
And Jesus answered 
and said unto him, 
Blessed art thou, Simon 
Barjona ; for flesh and 
blood hath not reveal- 
ed it unto thee, but 
my Father which is in 
heaven. 18. And I 
say also unto thee that 
thou art Petrtjs, and 
upon this petra I will 
build my Church ; and 
the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it. 
19. And I will give 
unto thee the keys of 
the kingdom of hea- 
ven ; and whatsoever 
thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound 
in heaven : and what- 
soever thou shalt loose 
on earth shall be loosed 
in heaven. 

20. Then charged 
he his disciples that 
they should tell no 
man that he was Jesus 
the Christ 



Mark viii. 27. 
And Jesus went 
out, and his disciples, 
into the towns of Cassa- 
rea Philippi : and by 
the way he asked his 
disciples, saying unto 
to them, Whom do 
men say that I am? 
28. And they answer- 
ed, John the Baptist ; 
but some say Elias ; 
and others, one of the 
prophets. 29. And he 
saith unto them, But 
whom say ye that I 
am? And Peter an- 
swereth and saith unto 
him, Thou art the 
Christ. 



Luke ix. 18. 
And it came to 
pass, as he was alone 
praying, . his disciples 
were with him : and 
he asked them, saying, 
AVhoni say the people 
that I am? 19. They 
answering said, John 
the Baptist ; but some 
say Elias ; and others 
say that one of the old 
prophets is risen again 
20. He said unto them, 
But whom say ye that 
I am ? Peter answer- 
ing said, the Christ of 
God. 



30. And he charg- 
ed them sharply, that 
they should tell no man 
of him. 



21. And he straithj 
charged them, and com- 
manded them to tell no 
man that thing. 



72 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



21. From that time 
forth began Jesus to 
shew unto his dis- 
ciples, how that he 
must go into Jerusalem 
and suffer many things 
of the elders and chief 
priests and scribes, 
and be killed and. be 
raised again the third 
day. 

22. Then Peter took 
him, and began to re- 
buke him, saying, Be 
it far from thee, Lord: 
this shall not be unto 
thee. 23. But he turn- 
ed and said unto Peter, 
Get thee behind me, 
Satan, thou art an 
offence unto me; for 
thou savourest not the 
things that be of God, 
but those that be of 
men. 

24. Then said Jesus 
unto his disciples, If 
any man will come 
after me, let him deny 
himself, and take up 
his cross, and follow 
me. 



25. For whosoever 
will save his life, shall 
lose it : and whoso- 
ever will lose hi3 life 
for my sake, shall find 
it. 26. For what is a 
man profited; if he shall 
gain the whole world, 
and lose his own soul ? 
or what shall a man 
give in exchange for 
his soul? 27. For the 
Son of man shall come 
in the glory of his 
Father with his angels, 



31. And he began 
to teach them that the 
Son of man must suffer 
many things, and be 
rejected of the elders, 
and of the chief priests 
and scribes, and be 
killed, and after three 
days rise again. 



22. Saying, The Son 
of man must suffer 
many things and be re- 
jected of the elders, 
and chief priests and 
scribes, and be slain 
and be raised the third 
day. 



32. And he spake 
that saying openly. 
And Peter took him, 
and began to rebuke 
him. 33. But when 
he had turned about, 
and looked on his 
disciples, he rebuked 
Petee, saying, Get thee 
behind me, Satan : for 
thou savourest not the 
things that be of God, 
but the things that be 
of men. 

34. And when he 
had called the people 
unto him with his dis- 
ciples also, he said unto 
them, Whosoever will 
come after me, let him 
deny himself, and take 
up his cross, and follow 
me. 

35. For whosoever 
will save his life shall 
lose it ; but whoso- 
ever shall lose his life 
for my sake and the 
gospeVs, the same shall 
save it. 36.' For what 
shall it profit a man, if 
he shall gain the whole 
world, and lose his 
own soul? 37. Or 
what shall a man give 
in exchange for his 
soul? 38. Whosoever 
therefore shall be 



23. And he said to 
them all, If any man 
will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and 
take up his cross daily, 
and follow me. 24. For 
whosoever will save his 
life shall lose it : but 
whosoever will lose his 
life for my sake, the 
same shall save it. 
25. For what is a man 
advantaged, if he gain 
the whole world, and 
lose himself, or be cast 
away? 26. For who- 
soever shall be ashamed 
of me and of my words, 
of him shall the Son of 
man be ashamed, when 
he shall come in his 
own glory, and in his 
Father's, and of the 
holy angels. 



ST MARK. 73 

and then he shall re- ashamed of me and of 

ward every man ac- my words in this adul- 

cording to his works. tekous and sinful ge- 
neration ; of him also 
shall the Son of man 
be ashamed, when he 
coineth in the glory of 
his Father with the 
holy angels. 

What in this comparative view of the three narratives 
particularly distinguishes St Mark, seems at first sight 
of little importance. Here it is a single word, there a 
short parenthesis ; sometimes a slight circumstance, or 
even no more than a simple accentuation, giving increas- 
ed emphasis to what is said. But these diversities or 
additions, on being examined more narrowly, impart a 
striking air of life to what he says ; they are of special 
importance or interest in their bearing on the locality 
or on the fact brought before us, in its most touching- 
details ; and they often strike home to the heart and the 
conscience. 

Certainly we have a diversity of little importance in 
itself where St Mark (v. 27) speaks of the toivns of 
Cesarea Philippi, while St Matthew has employed the 
more general term coasts. But does not this mention of 
towns at once give a more lively colour to the narrative, 
by placing us instantly in the midst of the busy throng % 
And just so also when St Mark (at the same verse) adds 
these words, by the way — does not that simple addition 
transport us with all the more life into the midst of all 
that was seen and done on that occasion \ 

He abridges, on the other hand, not less characteristic- 
ally, where St Matthew, from his Israelitic point of view, 
mentions Jeremiah by name among the prophets (v. 14), 
because that prophet was very particularly esteemed 



74 ' THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

among the Jews in the time of the Apostles. St Mark 
(ver. 28), with a different aim, and writing more specially 
for the Christians among the Gentiles, contents himself 
with naming Elias and the prophets in general. In this 
he is followed bj St Luke (ver. 19). In like manner, 
St Mark first, and then St Luke, abridge the words of St 
Peter's confession as we read them in St Matthew, who 
gives them with greater fulness, owing to the position he 
held as prophetical apostle and colleague of St Peter. 
The whole of our Lord's address to St Peter (in St Mat- 
thew 17, 19), is not repeated in St Mark, for reasons 
already given. For our Lord's command (Matth. ver. 20) 
St Mark employs a particularly strong expression : he 
straitly charged them ; in which, also, he is imitated by 
St Luke. In foretelling our Lord's passion, St Matthew 
gives most prominence to the place where Jesus was to 
suffer, Jerusalem; St Mark here, too, followed by St 
Luke, gives prominence to the reprobation that would 
signalize that passion. The rebuke addressed to St Peter 
is distinguished anew in St Mark by a striking feature 
(ver. 33) : Jesus turned about and looked on all his 
disciples when he rebuked Peter. The apostle that had 
been set before them all as an example in his confession 
and in his zeal, was to be all the more confounded when 
he allowed his precipitation or human feelings to carry 
him too far. Here we discover anew the close connexion 
subsisting between this Gospel and the Disciple whom 
such traits concern. 

Then, where St Matthew speaks of the disciples (ver. 24), 
St Mark (ver. 34) adds the people, when those words were 
uttered: If any one tuill come after me, let him deny himself 
St Luke (ver. 23) here inserts all. The word Gospel is not 
so familiar a term with any of the Evangelists as with St 



ST MAKE, 



75 



Mark, 1 He uses it here, also (ver. 35), in immediate con- 
nexion with our Lord's person, for my sake and the Gos- 
pel's. Finally, he connects, in an impressive manner, the 
confessing of the Son of man at this present time with the 
glory of his coming. 2 St Luke (yer. 26) adopts from St 
Mark this supplement to St Matthew's words ; but the 
forcible and solemn expression, in this adulterous and 
sinful generation, is found only in St Mark's Gospel. 

We now continue the narrative of the synoptical Evan- 
gelists, where we find each describe in his own several 
style the transfiguration on the Mount. 



Matth. xvi. 28. 

Verily I say unto 
you, There be some 
standing here, which 
shall not taste of 
death, till they see the 
Son of man coming in 
his kingdom, xvii. 1. 
And after six days 
Jesus taketh Peter, 
James, and John his 
brother, and bringeth 
them up into an high 
mountain apart. 2. 
And was transfigured 
before them : and his 
face did shine as the 
sun, and his raiment 
was white as the light. 
3. And, behold, there 
appeared unto them 
Moses and Elias talk- 
ing with them. 4. 
Then answered Peter, 
and said unto Jesus, 
Lord, it is good for us 
to be here : if thou 
wilt, let us make here 
three tabernacles ; one 
for thee, and one for 



Mark ix. 1. 
And he said unto 
them, Yerily I say unto 
you, That there be 
some of them that 
stand here, which shall 
not taste of death, till 
they have seen the 
kingdom of God come 
icith power. 2. And 
after six days Jesus 
taketh with him Peter, 
and James, and John, 
and leadeth them up 
into an high mountain 
apart by themselves ; 
and he was transfigured 
before them. 3. And 
his raiment became 
shining, exceeding white 
as snow ; so as no f idler 
on earth can white them. 
4. And there appeared 
unto them Elias with 
Moses : and they were 
talking with Jesus. 5. 
And Peter answered 
and said to Jesus, 
Rabbi, it is good for 
us to be here : and let 



Luke ix. 27. 
But I tell you of 
a truth, there be some 
standing here which 
shall not taste of death, 
till they see the king- 
dom of God. 28. And 
it came to pass about 
an eight days after 
these sayings, he took 
Peter, and John, and 
James, and went up 
into a mountain to 
pray. 29. And as he 
prayed, the fashion of 
his countenance was 
altered, and his rai- 
ment was white and 
glistering. 30. And, 
behold, there talked 
with him two men, 
which were Moses and 
Elias : 31. Who ap- 
peared in glory, and 
spake of his decease 
which he should accom- 
plish at Jerusalem. 
32. But Peter and 
they that were with him 
ivere heavy with sleep ; 



1 i. 1, 11, 15, viii. 35, x. 29, xiii. 10, xvi. 15. 

2 Compare Romans ix. 9, 10. 



76 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 



Moses, and one for 
Elias. 



5. While he yet 
spake, behold, a bright 
cloud overshadowed 
them : and behold a 
voice out of the cloud, 
which said, This is my 
beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased • 
hear ye him. 6. And 
when the disciples 
heard it, they fell on 
their face, and were 
sore afraid. 7 . And 
Jesus came and touched 
them, and said. Arise, 
and be not afraid. 8. 
And when they had 
lifted up their eyes, 
they saw no man, save 
Jesus only. 9. And 
as they came down 
from the mountain, Je- 
sus charged them, say- 
ing, Tell the vision to 
no man, until the Son 
of man be risen again 
from the dead. 

10. And his dis- 
ciples asked him, say- 
ing, Why then say the 
scribes that Elias must 
first come? 11. And 
Jesus answered and 
said unto them, Elias 



us make three taber- 
nacles ; one for thee, 
and one for Moses, and 
one for Elias. 6. For 
he wist not what to 
say ; for they were 
sore afraid. 



7. And there was 
a cloud that over- 
shadowed them : and 
a voice came out of the 
clond, saying, This is 
my beloved Son : hear 
him. 8. And suddenly 
when they had looked 
round about, they saw 
no man any more, save 
Jesus only with them- 
selves. 9. And as 
they came down from 
the mountain, he 
charged them that they 
should tell no man 
what things they had 
seen, till the Son of 
man were risen from 
the dead. 10. And 
they kept that saying 
with themselves, ques- 
tioning one with an- 
other what the rising 
from the dead should 
mean. 

11. And they ask- 
ed him, saying, Why 
say the scribes that 
Elias must first come ? 
12. And he answered 
and told them, Elias 
verily cometh first, and 



and when they were 
awake they saw his 
glory, and the two men 
that stood with him. 
33. And it came to 
ptass, as they departed 
from him, Petee said 
unto Jesus, Master, it 
is good for us to be 
here : and let us make 
three tabernacles ; one 
for thee, and one for 
Moses, and one for 
Elias : not knowing 
what he said. 

34. While he thus 
spake, there came a 
cloud and oversha- 
dowed them : and they 
feared as they entered 
into the cloud. 35. 
And there came a 
voice out of the cloud, 
saying, This is my be- 
loved Son : hear him. 
36. And when the 
voice was past, Jesus 
was found alone. And 
they kept it close, and 
told no man in those 
days any of those things 
which they had seen. 



ST MARK. 77 

truly shall first come, restoreth all things ; 

and restore all things, and how it is written 

12. But I say unto of the Son of man, that 

you, That Elias is he must suffer many 

come already, and they things, and be set at 

knew him not, but nought. 13. But I say 

have done unto him unto you, That Elias 

whatsoever they listed, is indeed come, and 

Likewise shall also the they have done unto 

Son of man suffer of him whatsoever they 

them. 13. Then the listed, as it is written 

disciples understood of him. 
that he spake unto them 
of John the Baptist. 

By merely running over this threefold narrative, we see 
clearly enough how each of our Evangelists relates what 
happened in accordance with the several points of view 
which we have repeatedly ascribed to them. St Mat- 
thew supplies the groundwork ; St Mark and St Luke 
repeat so far the most necessary parts of their predeces- 
sors, so far assume these as known, and then complete 
them by adding details, in which their several characters 
unequivocally come out. For example, St Luke indicates 
that important particular — that the transfiguration of 
Jesus took place while he prayed. But let us confine 
ourselves to what is special in St Mark. Here, too, it is 
not so much new facts that we find, as quite a peculiar 
way of representing things already known. Slight inser- 
tions, and differences at first sight almost imperceptible, 
erelong impart, on a careful comparison, quite a different 
colouring from that of St Matthew. Thus (ver. 2), he 
adds the expression by themselves, which gives clearness 
and force to the meaning. St Matthew presents to us 
the transfiguration in a brilliant and poetical manner, 
comparing it with the sun and the light (ver. 2). St 
Mark, by an expression less elevated indeed, but all the 
more racy from its very simplicity, as taken from the 



78 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

language of ordinary life : His raiment became shining, 
exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white 
them (ver. 3). St Matthew, in St Peter's address to 
Jesus, makes him say Lord ! St Mark (ver. 5) has the 
more characteristic and correct word, Rabbi, translated 
by St Luke (ver. 33) by that of Master. In St Mark, 
the artless statement of the ignorance of the disciples is 
evidently taken as if from the mouth itself of an eye- 
witness — that is, no doubt, of St Peter And they kept 
that saying with themselves, questioning one with another 
what the rising of the dead should mean. — Finally, when 
he mentions our Lord's predicted and impending suffer- 
ings, he again expressly speaks of his being set at naught 
(ver. 12). 

What immediately follows the account of our Lord's 
transfiguration, as given by the three synoptical Evan- 
gelists, brings out their several characteristics, that of St 
Mark especially, into still stronger relief. 

Matth. xvii. 14. Makk ix. 14. Luke ix. 37. 

And when they were And when he came And it came to 
come to the multi- to his disciples, he saw pass that on the next 
tude, there came to a great multitude about day, when they were 
him a certain man them, and the scribes come down from the 
kneeling down to him, questioning with them, hill, much people met 
and saying, 15. Lord, 15. And straightway him. 38. And, be- 
have mercy on my son ; all the people, when hold, a man of the 
for he is lunatick, and they beheld him, were company cried out, 
sore vexed : for oft- greatly amazed, and, saying, Master, I be- 
times he falleth into the running to him, saluted seech thee, look upon 
fire, and oft into the him. 16. And he my son: forheiswme 
water. 16. Amd I ashed the scribes, What only child. 39. And, 
brought him to thy dis- question ye with them ? lo, a spirit taketh him, 
ciples, and they could 11. And one of the mul- and he suddenly crieth 
not cure him. 17. Then titude answered and out; and it teareth 
Jesus answered and said, Master, I have him, that he foameth 
said, faithless and brought unto thee my again: and, bruising 
perverse generation, son, which hath a him, hardly departeth 
how long shall I be dumb spirit; 18. And from him. 40. And I 
with yon ? how long wheresoever he taketh besought thy disciples 



ST MARK. 



79 



shall I suffer you? 
bring him hither to me. 



18. And Jesus re- 
buked the devil, and 
he departed out of him ; 
and the child was cured 
from that very hour. 



him, he teareth him: 
and he foameth and 
gnasheth with his teeth, 
and pineth away: and 
I spake to thy disciples 
that they should cast 
him out ; and they 
could not. 19. He 
answereth them, and 
saith, faithless gene- 
ration, how long shall 
I be with you? how 
long shall I suffer you ? 
Bring him unto me. 

20. And they brought 
him unto him : and 
when he saw him, 
straightway the spirit 
tare him; and he fell 
on the ground, and 
wallowed, foaming. 
21. And he asked his 
father, How long is it 
ago since this came unto 
him? And he said, 
Of a child. 22. And 
ofttimes it hath cast 
him into the fire, and 
into the waters, to de- 
stroy him : but if thou 
canst do any thing, 
have compassion on 
us, and help us. 23. 
Jesus said unto him, 
If thou canst believe, 
all things are possible 
to him that believeth. 
24. And straightway 
the father of the child 
cried out, and said 
with tears, Lord, I be- 
lieve, help thou mine 
unbelief. 25. When 
Jesus saw that the 
people came running 
together, he rebuked 
the foul spirit, saying 
unto him. Thou dumb 



to cast him out ; and 
they could not. 41. 
And Jesus answering, 
said, faithless and 
perverse generation, 
how long shall I be 
with you, and suffer 
you? Bring thy son 
hither. 



42. And as he 
was yet a coming, the 
devil threw him down, 
and tare him. And 
Jesus rebuked the un- 
clean spirit, and healed 
the child, and delivered 
him again to his father. 



80 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



and deaf spirit, I 
charge thee, come out of 
him, and enter no more 
into him. ■ 26. And 
the spirit cried, and 
rent him sore, and 
came out of him : and 
he was as one dead; 
insomuch that many 
said, He is dead. But 
Jesus took him by the 
hand, and lifted him 
up ; and he arose. 

28. And when he 
was come into the 
house, his disciples 
asked him privately, 
Why could not we cast 
him out? 29. And 
he said unto them, This 
kind can come forth by 
nothing but by prayer 
and fasting. 



43. And they were 
all amazed at the mighty 
power of God. 



19. Then came the 
disciples to Jesus apart, 
and said, Why could 
not we cast him out? 

20. And Jesus said 
unto them, Because of 
your unbelief: for 
verily I say unto you, 
If ye have faith as a 
grain of mustard seed, 
ye shall say unto this 
mountain, Remove 
hence to yonder place, 
and it shall remove ; 
and nothing shall be 
impossible unto you. 

21. Howbeit this kind 
goeth not out but by 
prayer and fasting. 

Here surely, if any where, the special character of St 
Mark's Gospel, even on a very superficial comparison 
with the other two, discovers itself in his talent for minute 
and scenic description, and in the introduction of many 
details which St Matthew, in accordance with the nature 
of his general design, omits mentioning. Thus St Mark 
alone, or at least first, records the contestation between 
the scribes and the disciples who could not cure the lunatic 
(ver. 14), and, in the midst of the strife thus caused 
among the people, the arrival of Jesus, to whom they 
run, and whom they salute, that is, welcome (ver. 15) as 



ST MARK. SI 

the well-known and might j Deliverer ; the question put 
by Jesus to the scribes (ver. 16), followed by the answer 
of that one man of the multitude who was chiefly inte- 
rested, namely the father of the child that was possessed 
(ver. 1 7) ; the full, precise, and graphic description of the 
malady and its symptoms, both from his father's mouth 
(vei% 18), and by the narrator himself on the child being 
brought to Jesus (ver. 20). Some of these details, it is 
true, have been adopted by St Luke, yet with a constant 
adherence to his own manner, and so that the two Gos- 
pels can nowise be confounded, the moment we compare 
the characteristic features that distinguish them. The 
description, in particular, of the attacks suffered by the 
possessed child (ver. 18-20), is presented by our second 
Evangelist with a choice and force of expression that give 
us an insight not only into the style, but into the whole 
tone and bent of his mind and spirit. So vigorous a con- 
ception of the incidents he describes, gives evidence of a 
powerful soul, of a descriptive talent, remarkable at once 
for its justness and freshness, and of a mind thoroughly 
penetrated with every trait in an object that intensely 
interests it. Mark how rich in appropriate and expres- 
sive terms is the passage before us! The foul spirit 
tears (pijao-ei) the possessed person, who thereupon foams 
(d<j)pL^€i), and gnasheth tuith his teeth (rpl&c tou? oSdvras), 
and pineth away (^paiverai) ; anon the spirit teareth him 
(o-Trapdo-o-et), and the possessed person falls on the ground, 
and wallows, foaming (/cvXterai dfypl&v) ; he afterwards 
reiterates this tearing of the child (ver. 26), the spirit 
cried, and rent him sore (/cpd^av /cat airapd^av), and came 
out of him. St Matthew, as we have remarked, has 
nothing of all this, and St Luke adopts several of its 
traits, yet evidently in a manner suited to the peculiarly 

F 



82 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

historical cast of his Gospel, and with such a modification 
of St Mark's fulness of expressions, as leaves the latter 
exclusive master of the pictorial and the scenic in describ- 
ing what took place. We would further remark, that 
St Luke, the physician, speaks more of the internal 
effects of the foul spirit on the constitution of his victim 
(ver. 39) : bruising him (or rather, inwardly oppressing, 
excruciating him, awrplftov), he hardly departeth from him; 
while St Mark represents the phenomena purely from his 
outward and visible point of view. Then our Evangelist 
is absolutely the only one that reports the conversation of 
Jesus with the father of the possessed person — a conver- 
sation full of the most striking and instructive details ; 
first, those touching words — but if thou canst do any thing 
(ver. 22), and the serious yet encouraging answer made 
by Jesus, If thou canst believe, all things are possible 
to him that believeth ; — then the father's exclamation (ver. 
24), And straightway the father of the child cried out, 
and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine un- 
belief! Finally (ver. 25-27), we have the expulsion by 
the powerful word of Jesus; but with this interesting 
particular, that our Lord, when he saw the people come 
running together, now, as was his wont, avoiding all use- 
less display, hastened to perform the cure. Last of all, 
the description that then follows, places in still stronger 
relief what gave so much impressiveness to the whole 
affair — the violence of the foul spirit on the one hand, 
and the power of the Saviour on the other : the child be- 
came as dead, so that many said, He is dead. But Jesus 
took him up, and lifted him by the hand; and he arose. 
The question put by the disciples, why they could not 
cast out the unclean spirit, had been already recorded by 
St Matthew. To that St Mark simply but significantly 



ST MAKK. 83 

adds (ver. 28), that the question was put after Jesus had 
come into the house. In our Lord's answer, St Matthew 
(ver. 20) introduces a sentence which ought historically 
to be placed elsewhere. St Mark, accordingly, leaves it 
out here, and retains (ver. 29) those words only which St 
Matthew has likewise placed at the close (ver. 20). St 
Luke, in what we shall erelong see to be his peculiar 
manner, concludes his narrative at an earlier stage with 
the glorification of God (ver. 43). 

Thus far, then, have we been able to obtain a general 
idea of the distinctive character of St Mark's Gospel. 
Let us now proceed to take a closer view of it, and mark 
what are the grand special peculiarities that characterise 
it, with the view of deducing from these some important 
consequences bearing immediately on the object of this 
work. 

St Mark's Gospel, compared first of all with St 
Matthew's, is distinguished at once, on the one hand, by 
a very manifest curtailment ; and on the other, still more 
remarkably, by a greater fulness in the development of 
what he retains. In this latter respect, much more than 
in the former, our Evangelist is followed by St Luke, 
who, generally speaking, augments St Matthew's narra- 
tions with not a few additions of various sorts. 

Let us see, first, in what the curtailments observed in 
St Mark mainly consist. Many sayings, sentences, quo- 
tations, chiefly from the prophets, narrations, whole chap- 
ters, occur either in St Matthew, or in St Luke and St 
Matthew together, which are nowhere to be found in St 
Mark. Thus, for example, we find nothing in St Mark 
relating to our Lord's conception, birth, or infancy, the 
annunciation and the birth of St John the Baptist, the 
genealogy of Jesus Christ ; in a word, of the two first 



84 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

chapters both of St Matthew and St Luke. Instead of 
entering at all into these details, St Mark commences his 
narrative briefly but energetically as follows : The begin- 
ning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as 
it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger 
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 
John did baptize in the wilderness, &c. No more do we 
find in St Mark the sermon on the mount either in the full 
and rich form in which it appears in St Matthew, or in the 
more concise but historical form of St Luke. The simili- 
tudes too, although a special importance is attached by 
our Evangelist (iv. 33) to that mode of instruction as 
employed by Jesus, are given but in a small number. Of 
all the parables that are recorded by the other Evange- 
lists, he gives only that of the seed that fell into four 
different hinds of soil; 1 that of the grain of mustard seed; 2 
and, afterwards, that of the vineyard and the husbandmen? 
Then, whereas St Luke as well as St Matthew have each, 
separately, many parables not preserved by any other 
Evangelist, St Mark has but one parable that does not 
occur elsewhere. We shall erelong return to that simili- 
tude, and to the Gospel similitudes in general. But to 
quote, further, a single evident example of our Evange- 
list's omissions, we do not find in his Gospel the twice 
uttered Woe pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees, 4 
nor that against Chorazin, Capernaum, and Bethsaida, 5 
nor that against Jerusalem. 6 We shall see erelong to 
what principle we must refer those omissions. 

1 Matth. xiii. 3-8 ; Luke viii. 5-8 ; Mark iv. 3-8. 

2 Matth. xiii. 31, 32 ; Luke xiii. 18, 19 ; Mark iv. 30-32. 

3 Matth. xxi. 33-42 ; Luke xx. 9-19 ; Mark xii. 1-11. 

4 Matth. xxiii. 14-35 ; Luke xi. 39-52. 

5 Matth. xi. 20-24 ; Luke x. 13-15. 

6 Matth. xxiii. 37-39 ; Luke xiii. 34, 35 ; xix. 41-44. 



ST MARK. 85 

For these suppressions and curtailments we have an 
ample compensation in St Mark's abundant augmenta- 
tions and amplifications, which are discoverable only on 
a careful comparison of the texts of the first two Gospels, 
These augmentations rarely consist of narratives alto- 
gether new ; and, where they are new, they are very 
rarely preserved by him alone. Compared with his pre- 
decessor, he presents only the five following narratives, 
not previously put on record by St Matthew: 1. The cure 
of the possessed person in the synagogue at Capernaum. 1 
2. That of the deaf person in the coasts of Decapolis, 
who had an impediment in his speech. 2 3. That of the 
blind at Bethsaicla. 3 4. The casting out of devils by 
those who were not among the immediate followers of 
Jesus. 4 5. The widow's mite. 5 

Of these five narratives, only the second and the third, 
as appears from the passages quoted, are to be found in 
St Mark alone ; the three remaining relate facts which 
have been adopted by St Luke also. But see how, in the 
accounts they present, however analogous, each preserves 
his own peculiar colouring ; for instance, in the details of 
the widow's mite. 

Makk xii. 41. Luke xxi. 1. 

" And Jesus sat over against " And he looked up, and saw 

the treasury, and beheld how the the rich men casting their gifts into 

people cast money into the trea- the treasury. 2. And he saw also 

sury : and many that were rich a certain poor widow casting in 

cast in much. 42. And there thither two mites. 3. And he 

came a certain poor widow, and she said, Of a truth I say unto you, 

threw in two mites, which make a that this poor widow hath cast in 

farthing. 43. And he called unto more than they all: 4. For all 

him his disciples, and saith unto these have of their abundance cast 

them, Verily I say unto you, That in unto the offerings of God: but 

this poor widow hath cast more in, she of her penury hath cast in all 

than all they which have cast into the living that she had." 

1 Mark i. 23-28 ; Luke iv. 33-37. 2 Mark vii. 31-37. 

3 Mark viii. 22-26. i Mark ix. 38-41. 5 Mark xii. 41-44. 



86 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the treasury : 44. For all they did 
cast in of their abundance ; but 
she of her want did cast in all that 
she had, even all her living." 

Here again St Mark gives a specimen of his charac- 
teristic fulness, force, and pictorial effect. We see Jesus 
seated over against the treasury ; next we have, repre- 
sented to the life, the Saviour's calling his disciples to 
him, to communicate what he alone had observed, and to 
deduce a lesson from it. As characteristic of St Mark, 
we find spoken of separately, first the people, and then 
the rich in particular ; next, a short explanatory inter- 
calation — two mites, which make a farthing ; finally, 
the frequent recurrence of the leading words — cast in. 
St Luke, as an historian, has recorded the matter more 
concisely, rather avoiding any thing like scenic effect ; 
but his narrative compensates for this by the touching 
expression, applied from the nature of its cod tents to the 
treasury : the offerings of God. 

In the similitude which we had above in our eye, as to 
be found in St Mark alone, the same traits again occur. 
It is that of the kingdom of God compared to the slow, 
but sure and regular development of the seed when it 
is sown. In that concise and every way striking par- 
able, the peculiar character and object of our second 
Gospel are fully brought out. We find it immediately 
after that other, common to all three Evangelists, of the 
seed sown in various kinds of ground, and to which in St 
Matthew (xiii. 1-23, 24-30) there is annexed the par- 
able of the tares which the enemy sowed among the 
wheat ; but in St Mark, who omits this last, we read the 
following (iv. 26) : And he said, So is the kingdom of. 
God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground ; 27. 
And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed 



ST MARK. 87 

should spring and grow up, he hnoweth not hoiv. 28. 
For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself (avrofidrv) ; 
first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
ear. 29. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately 
he putteth in the sichle, because the harvest is come. 

Here all is characteristic. In the first place, the mean- 
ing — the object of the parable ; the kingdom of God 
viewed in its imperceptible but continual increase ; in 
its peaceable, regular, free, powerful, surprising progress. 

But how striking and pleasing are the details! The 
sower, as soon as his work is performed, leaves it to 
itself, and while he continues his ordinary course of life ; 
meanwhile he beholds the seed shooting up, he hnoius not 
how ; — that earth, which bringeth forth fruit of herself — 
that is, without any human, but in virtue of a divinely 
implanted energy (such also is the vital force of the 
Gospel message which from its very nature cannot remain 
inert) ; — after that, the fruit itself in its gradual and sure 
development; first, the blade ; then, the ear; then, the full 
grain in the ear; — finally, and with St Mark's favourite 
word, immediately (evOew), when the fruit is fully ripe, 
the sickle, which is put in at the time of harvest, that is, 
the kingdom of God in its completion of judgment and of 
glory (comp. Rev. xiv. 14-20). 

But, as we have said, what particularly distinguishes 
St Mark when compared with St Matthew, is not so much 
the addition of those few altogether new passages — it is 
much rather that striking exuberance of details, by means 
of which he expands and elucidates the narratives and 
memorials of his predecessor, even in their most minute 
and subtlest traits, and brings out their bearings with 
quite a new power of colouring, precision, and impressive- 
ness. All this we see exhibited in the account of the 



88 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

raising again to life of the daughter of Jairus, that of the 
healing of the lunatic child, and of so many which we 
have already adduced as examples. In a word, every 
narrative of our second Evangelist, compared with the 
parallel passages, first in St Matthew and then in St 
Luke, superabundantly establishes the following prin- 
ciple : That if any one desire to know an Evangelical 
fact, not only in its main features and grand results, but 
also in its most minute, and, so to speak, its most graphic 
delineation, he must betake himself to St Mark. 

This quite peculiar delineation, however, of facts 
already known, this fresh and most interesting elabora- 
tion of materials for the most part already existing in St 
Matthew, is not confined to that ample addition of entire 
sentences which we find in some of the examples quoted. 
St Mark presents to us an event, a parable, a circum- 
stance, with the precision, the animation, and the scenic 
effect that are peculiar to him, often by the intercalation 
of some few words ; sometimes by a single word interca- 
lated, strengthened, or repeated; sometimes by the mere 
transposition of words in the very phrase employed already 
by St Matthew. Here we may illustrate the subject by 
some examples. 

Among the first of these we may rank St Mark's usual 
practice of giving the names and surnames, and mention- 
ing the relations and other specialties attached to persons 
whom St Matthew mentions more generally. For instance, 
St Mark alone gives the name of the blind man restored 
to sight by our Lord near Jericho (x. 46) : Bartimeus, 
the son of Timeus. — Thus (ii. 26) he gives the name of 
the high priest to whom David addressed himself when 
he received the shew-bread as food, in the time of 
A biathar the high priest. — Thus we find recorded in our 



ST MAKK. 89 

St Mark, for the first time, the Jewish name of the pub- 
lican-apostle and that of his father (ii. 14) Levi, the son 
of Alpheus. — Thus also, but for St Mark we should not 
have known the very significant surname of the sons of 
Zebedee (iii. 17), andhesurnamedthem~BoAT$mGVS, which 
is, The sons of thunder. 1 — Thus St Mark alone informs us 
that Simon of Cyrene, who bore the cross after Jesus, was 
the father of Alexander and of Rufus (xv. 21), well- 
known persons in the circle of the Roman Christians, for 
whom St Mark wrote in the first instance, as, with respect 
to Rufus at least, seems evident from one of the greetings 
addressed by St Paul to the Romans (Rom. xvi. 13). 

Still more important are the very slight additions 
thrown in by St Mark, in which he has preserved for us 
some of the identical words uttered by Jesus in the 
Aramaean tongue, employed by our Lord. Thus, in the 
account of the young woman's restoration to life, in St 
Mark alone we find the words (v. 41) Talitha cumi, 
which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise : 
while St Matthew mentions the bare fact of her being 
raised again, and St Luke adds only the words in Greek. 
On another occasion he likewise gives the proper Aramaean 
word used by Jesus, when he healed a blind person in the 
coasts of Decapolis (vii. 34) : Ephphatha, that is to say, 
Be opened. Thus, in Gethsemane (xiv. 36), he puts the 
Syriac Abba! first, where the other Evangelists give 
simply, Father : Abba, Father, all things are possible 
unto thee. St Mark has further inserted, though in ordi- 
nary language, a most important word of command in the 
account of the storm at sea. St Matthew and St Luke 
merely relate how Jesus, with a word, rebuked the winds 

1 It is remarkable how our Evangelist does not directly reckon St Peter in the 
list of the Twelve, but simply says of him that Jesus surnamed him Peter. 



90 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

and the waves; St Mark (iv. 39) gives the two brief 
words of command themselves : Peace, be still ! 

The details, however, which St Mark has contrived to 
throw in by means of such parentheses or short amplifi- 
cations, whether it be to elucidate words or things, or to 
make them stand out more forcibly to the mind and eye, 
or to make them more deeply and widely felt, are too 
various and too numerous to admit of our presenting 
them here under any special rubrics. We have only to 
glance here and there over the book of our interesting 
Evangelist, and we shall readily perceive them, together 
with the remarkable instructions they involve. 

I. 13. The account of our Saviour s temptation in the 
desert is given very briefly in St Mark. Yet even here 
there is a distinctive trait, and that, too, strikingly signi- 
ficant : and Jesus was with the wild beasts. We feel 
at once the impression this slight addition must produce. 
Does it not recall to our minds the first man in Paradise, 
who, by his disobedience, lost his dominion over the animal 
tribes, — and, contrasted with that, the second Adam (a 
greater than Daniel !) among the wild beasts of the wilder- 
ness, reconquering that dominion by obedience and the 
Word of God ? Here let us think too of Isaiah xi. 

I. 20. Jesus, when walking by the sea of Galilee, called 
fishers to the apostleship ; first Simon and Andrew, im- 
mediately after that, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. 
These also leave their nets at the call of Jesus ; and the 
two last mentioned leave their father likewise. This both 
St Mark and St Matthew intimate, but St Mark makes a 
short further addition — they left their father Zebedee in 
the ship with the hired servants. These four little words 
involve two particulars, or, say rather, elucidations. First, 
they prove that the father of the two who were called, 



ST MARK. 91 

was not left alone by his sons at his advanced age ; in the 
second place, they throw some light on the social position 
of the apostles. They had hired servants in their employ- 
ment, and belonged to what is called the middle class in 
society. 

ill. 5. The adversaries watch Jesns to see if he will 
heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath-day. 
Jesus bids him stand forth, and asks him if it be lawful 
to do good on the Sabbath-day, or to do evil % Where- 
upon he heals the man's hand, according to St Luke and 
St Mark, after that he had looked round about upon them 
— but our second Evangelist delineates with greater depth 
and fulness the outward expression and inward feelings of 
Jesus : And when" he had looked round upon them 
with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. 
Here we have what St John calls, the wrath of the Lamb 
(Rev. vi. 16). 

III. 20. The unremitting activity of our Lord himself, 
and of his apostles, is intimated to us in the following 
manner, immediately after the giving of their names, by 
St Mark, and by him alone, so that they could not so much 
as eat bread. And still later (vi. 31), they had no leisure 
so much as to eat. And in the same verse Jesus addresses 
those amiable words, recorded nowhere else, but which 
transport us so completely into the daily and intimate 
circle of our Lord and his disciples : Come ye yourselves 
apart into a desert place, and rest awhile (dvcnraveaOe 

oXlyov) . 

VI. 4. We have it recorded (Matth. xiii. 57) that Jesus 
said : A prophet is not ivithout honour, save in his own 
country, and in his own house. St Mark gives it more fully ; 
but who feels not that in his short extension there is 



92 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

something particularly striking 1 A prophet is not without 
honour but in his own country, and among his own kin, 
and in his own house. 

VI. 47, 48. After the multiplication of the loayes and 
the fishes, the disciples went into the ship; Jesus remain- 
ed some time alone to pray. St Matthew (xiv. 24-32) 
and St Mark record this almost in the same terms. But 
note how lively and how graphic the detail found only in 
St Mark : And he saw them toiling in rowing. 

VI. 52. And when, about the fourth watch of the 
night, they saw Jesus walking upon the waters towards 
the ship, and come into it, and the contrary wind cease, 
the disciples were sore amazed and worshipped ; but St 
Mark connects this amazement with what touches the 
heart more deeply : They considered not the miracle of the 
loaves, for their heart was hardened. 

VII. 1. The expression, defiled hands, which was per- 
fectly intelligible among the Jews, St Mark here eluci- 
dates with a short parenthesis, that is to say, with un- 
washen hands. In like manner, afterwards (ver. 11), he 
alone gives the term peculiar to the Jews, but explains 
it for his Gentile readers : It is Coeban, that is to say, a 

gift- 

VII. 27. The Canaanitish woman, when our Lord 
wished to try her faith, receives the following reply from 
him : It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to 
cast it unto the dogs. Thus we read in St Matthew (xv. 
26), and in St Mark at the verse above cited. But the 
latter first intercalates another saying of our Lord : Let 
the children first (irpcorov) be filled. Who perceives not 
what secret encouragement there was in the expression 
first for the woman, who was a Greek by birth ? Have 



ST MARK. 93 

we not here in history what St Paul in his Epistle (Rom. 
i. 16) expresses in these words : To the Jew fiest, andxL&o 
to the Greek f 

X. 17-30. The discourse with the rich young man, and 
what follows in immediate connexion with it, are mentioned 
by the three first Evangelists — in St Mark anew, with 
some few characteristic intercalations. The touching in- 
cident, that Jesus, before pronouncing the decisive words 
One thing thou laciest, looked upon him and loved him, 
without anywise softening the severity of his declaration 
on account of this natural amiability, is recorded only by 
our Evangelist. He immediately afterwards adds (ver. 
22) to the follow me, which we find both in St Matthew 
and St Luke, the important words, taking up the cross 
(apas tov aravpov). But when, further on, those terrible 
words of the Saviour are heard : How hardly shall they 
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! — still it is 
St Mark alone who follows this up with the astonishment 
of his disciples, and the Master s repeated yet explanatory 
saying: And the disciples ivere astonished at his words. 
But Jesus ansiuereth again, and saith unto them, Children, 
how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter 
into the kingdom of God ! And when our Lord then goes 
on to say, that it is easier for a camel to go through the 
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the king- 
dom of God, and the disciples thereupon, in still greater 
astonishment, say among themselves (this too only in 
St Mark), Who then can be saved? it is St Mark anew 
who records, in the most forcible yet simple manner, that 
saying so fall of comfort to the heart truly in search of 
salvation, in repeating the expression of God's almighty 
power in man's salvation, for with God all things are 



94 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

possible. When, shortly afterwards, he promises to the 
disciples, that whatever any one shall have left on earth 
for his sake he shall have restored to him an hundred-fold, 
and that he shall receive eternal life in the world to come, 
our faithful and conscientious companion of St Peter, adds 
farther what might have been but too easily forgotten, 
that this recompense, in so far as this life is concerned, 
shall be coupled with persecutions (perd hwyixcov). 

X. 32. Jesus goes up to Jerusalem with his disciples 
for the last time. To the simple statement of this by St 
Matthew (xx. 17), St Mark further adds the following 
picture, both of the feelings of the Apostles, and of the 
pastoral character of the Master by whom they were led : 
And Jesus ivent before them (rjv irpodycov dvrovs) : and 
they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. 
Thereupon he declared to them anew his approaching 
sufferings, and rising again on the third day. 

XII. 29. When Jesus reminded the scribes of the 
greatest of the commandments, the quotation from Deu- 
teronomy is preceded in St Mark alone by, Hear, 
Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. In a Gospel 
mainly designed for being read among the Gentiles, it 
was fitting that the doctrine of the unity of the Godhead, 
that grand foundation of all commandments as well as of 
all truths, should retain its place of pre-eminence. 

XV. 42. We have a slight augmentation here, yet in- 
volving an elucidation which is found nowhere else in the 
Gospels : it was the preparation, that is, the day be- 
fore THE SABBATH (wapcKr/cevr), o earl TTpoG-aftfiaTOV.) 

XVI. 3, 4. St Luke and St John, as well as St Mark, 
speak of the gravestone which the women found already 
rolled away ; but St Mark alone records the question 



ST MARK. 95 

that disquieted the women : Who shall roll us away the 
stone ? Immediately after, we have the artless and truth- 
breathing remark of the narrator ; for it was very great. 

It is not, however, by such parentheses only, be they 
long or short, that St Mark, in the way we have indicated, 
has contrived to give quite a fresh colouring, and quite a 
new interest to his predecessor's narrative; for he often 
produces the same effect by the intercalation of a single 
word — often of a simple but very significant participle. 
Of this take the following examples : — 

I. 7. The baptism of St John, the forerunner. He 
points to the mightier one who was to come after him. 
In St Matthew, he himself confesses that he is not ivorthy 
to bear his shoes ; in St Luke, that he teas not ivorthy to 
unloose the latchet of his shoes. In St Mark we have a 
single participle more, not ivorthy, stooping down (or 
rather bowing down, kv^cls), to unloose the latchet of his 
shoes. One can better feel than describe the feeling of 
respect and adoration involved in this single added word ! 

I. 9. Soon after this, Jesus appears among the crowd 
in order to be baptized by John. Then cometh Jesus 
from Galilee, we read in St Matthew ; in St Mark, Jesus 
from Nazareth of Galilee. Our Evangelist would put a 
double emphasis on the contempt cast in Israel on the 
place from which our Lord came, and where he had been 
brought up. He clings to this expression to the very 
close of his Gospel. In St Matthew, we read simply in 
the address of the angels to the women in the sepulchre : 
Ye seek Jesus, who was crucified; in St Mark, Ye seek 
Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified (xvi. 6). 

I. 41. A leper comes to our Lord desiring to be healed. 
In St Matthew and St Luke we read, Jesus 'put forth his 
hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. St 



96 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Mark adds a single word (<nr\ayvi<r6ei<;), moyed with 

COMPASSION. 

IV. 3. Our Lord teaches by parables. He begins with 
that of the sower. But in St Mark he uses the impres- 
sive preliminary word, Hearken. It is the word of 
authority. In the whole New Testament we find it used 
only by Him of whom the Father said, Hear ye him 
(Matt, xvii 5). 

VI. 53. After the calming of the contrary wind in the 
night when Jesus walked on the sea, St Matthew writes 
(xiv. 34), And when they were gone over, they came to the 
land of Gennesaret. Graphically, and in proper sea phrase, 

St Mark adds, AND DREW TO THE SHORE (irpoawpiJLiaOvcrav). 

VII. 21. Impurity lies not in the food that enters into 
the mouth, but in the heart, whence proceed eyil thoughts 
and all sins. After St Matthew, St Mark gives some 
further extension to this saying of our Lord ; but still 
more, he by a single word brings more fully out the force 
of the antithesis — from within {eaooOev) the heart of man 
proceed evil thoughts. And this expression, from zvithin, 
we find in him alone (ver. 23), by way of antithesis to 
that of from without (egcoOev), ver. 15, 18. 

X. 13. The disciples rebuke those who bring little 
children to Jesus. In St Matthew, Jesus says, Suffer 
little children to come unto me. This we find preceded 
in St Mark by, he was much displeased (in the Greek in 

One word, rjyavdfCTVcre). 

XII. 36. In quoting the 110th Psalm, we read in St 
Matthew (xxii. 43), David (speaking) in spirit : St Mark 
fixes the force of the term more fully, David (speaking) 
by the Holy Ghost. 

XV. 43. Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate to crave 
the body of Jesus. By the intercalation of a single par- 



ST MARK. 97 

ticiple, St Mark here gives quite a new colour to the deed of 
this noble Pharisee : having emboldened himself (to\- 
/jLrjcras), we read in our Evangelist, Joseph went to Pilate to 
crave the body of Jesus. This simple word discovers to us 
one of the first and most striking effects of our Saviour's 
death. Joseph of Arimathea, until that time a secret 
disciple of Jesus, acquires sufficient boldness to declare 
himself such in the most open manner — at the moment of 
his death, and when concerned about his crucified body. 

XV. 29. }Ye shall conclude with one further example 
of the impression produced in St Mark bj the insertion 
of a single little word. Jesus, when nailed to the cross s 
is railed at and outraged by four sorts of people — the 
populace, the chief priests and the scribes, the malefactors, 
and the soldiers. The grossest and most revolting insults 
are addressed to him by the populace ; they apostrophise 
him directly : they reviled him, ivagging their heads, and 
saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in 
three days, save thyself, &c. Here St Mark closely fol- 
lows St Matthew, adding nothing but a little word — an 
interjection : Ah ! (Ova) thou that destroyest the temple, 
&c. In this short exclamation we have the whole fury 
of a rabid mob brought before us. And does not this 
word at the same time recall to our recollection that Psalm 
where David expresses, by the same sound, the insulting 
exclamations of his enemies % (Ps. xxxv. 25.) 

By merely transposing the phrase, our second Evan- 
gelist, in the same manner, gives at times a peculiar 
freshness and significance to what he says. Thus, for 
example, in the preaching of St John the Baptist, which 
St Luke (iii. 16) and St Matthew (hi. 11) render in the 
same order : / indeed baptize you with water unto repent- 
ance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, 

G 



98 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you 
with the Holy Ghost, — we read more characteristically 
and energetically in St Mark : There cometh one mightier 
than I after me, I, indeed, have baptized you with water ; 
but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 

After yet another manner, but by no means fortui- 
tously, we have the transposition at the end of the parable 
of the sower. In St Matthew (xiii. 23) it runs : But he 
that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth 
the ivord, and understancleth it ; which also beareth fruit, 
and bringeth forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, 
some thirty. St Mark (iv. 20) reverses this order, so as 
to make a climax : some thirty-fold, some sixty, and 
some an hundred. The purpose cannot be mistaken ; it 
is to make us feel, together with the general doctrine to 
be found already in St Matthew, this further particular, 
elsewhere expressed by our Lord in St John's Gospel : 
In this is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit 
(John xy. 8). 

A transposition, coupled with a short periphrasis, 
makes a striking impression in the similitude of the hus- 
bandmen, as recorded by St Mark. But last of all he sent 
unto them his son, we read in St Matthew (xxi. 37) ; 
and in St Luke (xx. 13) — What shall I do? I will send 
my beloved son. But in St Mark (xii. 6) — Having yet 
therefore one son, his well beloyed, he sent him also last 
unto them — a most touching expression, particularly in 
the original : ' Etl ovv eva vlov e^cov dya7rr)Tov avrov, 
aireareike kcll avrov. 

We have yet another transposition of this kind in the 
history of our Lord's passion, hardly perceptible indeed, 
and yet important. When the multitude, led by Judas, 
drew near to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, as 



ST MARK. 99 

recorded by St Matthew (xxvi. 46), Behold, he is at hand 
that doth betray me; according to St Mark (xiv. 42), 
with a turn given to the words that evidently strengthens 
the impression to the hearing : Lo ! he that betrayeth me 
is at hand. 

Finally, turn we once more to the account of the resur- 
rection. The Angel announces the grand news in these 
words, rendered thus by St Matthew and St Luke : He 
is not here; for he is risen. St Mark (xvi. 6), with 
more animation, without the for, and in the inverse 
order, has : He is risen ; he is not here. 

Numerous, also, are the passages in St Mark, where, 
with the same tendency to increased energy and em- 
phasis, the less precise or more general word that had 
been employed by St Matthew is superseded, not without 
a striking effect, by another more characteristic, more 
distinctive, and more graphic. Thus we read in St 
Matthew (iii. 16), as well as St Luke (iii. 21), that at 
the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan, the heavens 
were opened unto him (dvecp^Orjo-av) ; in St Mark (i. 10), 
he saiv the heavens rent open (a^o/ievovs:). Thus 
afterwards in St Mark (ver. 12), the Spirit driveth him 
(etcpdWei) into the tvildemess, for St Matthew's expression 
(iv. 1), he was led up, and St Luke's (iv. 1), he was 
led. So likewise, in our Evangelist (i. 30), the proper 
expression for a sick person, lay sick of a fever (Kare/ceoro 1 
TTvpeoraovaa), for what we find in St Matthew, lay and 
was sick of a fever (viii. 14). In like manner (ii. 12) 
they were all amazed (e^laraaOac, to be beside one's self), 
for the less forcible expression in St Matthew (ix. 8), they 
marvelled (edav/jLaaav). And in the account of the para- 

1 In Latin : decumhebat. 



100 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

lytic, who was let down through the roof to the feet of 
Jesus, we have anew in St Mark (ii. 4) the same selection 
of precise and forcible expressions : that they could not 
come nigh unto Jesus, and uncovered the roof (direo-re- 

yaaav ttjv areyrjv) ; they LET DOWN (^aXcoai) the bed. And 

then (ii. 7), who can forgive sins but the one God? 
(eh 6 @€o?), where St Luke (v, 21) has but God alone 
(pdvos 6 @eo?.) And in the description of the storm at 
sea, where St Matthew (viii. 24) says, the ship was 
COVERED With the waves (ware — KaXvirTeaQai) ; St Mark 
says (iv. 37), the ship ivas full (yefil&o-dcu). And when 
our Lord sent away the multitudes whom he had fed, St 
Matthew (xiv. 23) uses the ordinary expression having 
sent the multitudes away (diroXvaas) ; Mark (vi. 4 6) has 
a more military word : dirora^diievo^— when he had dis- 
banded the multitudes. And at another place, speaking 
to the Pharisees, in St Matthew (xv. 3) we find : ye 
transgress (irapa^alvere) the commandment of God by 
your tradition ; in St Mark (vii. 9), ye make void 1 (d6e- 
relre) the commandment of God. In the account of the 
believing Canaanitish woman, the sole change of a pre- 
position doubles the impression : The dogs eat of the 
crumbs which fall from their master's table, is what we 
read in St Matthew (xv. 27) ; but St Mark (vii. 28), with 
a more decided shade of humility, has, the clogs under 
the table. In the parable of the vineyard and the hus- 
bandmen, St Mark gives us another example (xii. 1) of 
his greater correctness in naming an object : an under 
place for the wine-fat (virokr^tov), instead of the ordi- 
nary but less appropriate word \wvbv (wine-press), in St 
Matthew (xxi. 33). In the history of our Lord's pas- 
sion also, examples not unfrequently occur of such words 

1 In the text of the English Bible, reject ; on the margin, frustrate. 



ST MARK.'' 101 

substituted for others, less strictly correct or less forcible, 
in St Matthew. Thus, where the latter (xxvi. 37) says, 
that in the garden of Gethseniane our Lord began to be 
sorrowful (XvirelaOai), St Mark (xiy. 33) employs a 
stronger expression : to be sore amazed (efcOafjufieiG-Oai). 
Thus, in fine, for examples might be greatly multiplied, 
St Mark mentions under its correct and proper name of 
wine mingled with myrrh, the stupifying drink, which on 
account of its bitter taste, and with an allusion to the 
prophecy, 1 is called by St Matthew (xxyii. 34), vinegar 
mingled with gall 

This emphatic manner of expressing himself further 
appears in St Mark's repetitions, either of a phrase or of 
the leading word in the phrase. Thus it is not without 
emphasis that he repeats the words : kingdom of God, and 
gospel (i. 14, 15)— Jesus came into Galilee preaching the 
gospel of the kingdom or God, and saying, The time 
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent 
ye and believe the gospel. — Likewise (ii. 16), And when 
the Scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans 
and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that 
he eateth and drinlceth with publicans and sinners? 
And after that (ver. 19), Can the children of the bride- 
chamber fast WHILE THE BRIDEGROOM IS WITH THEM? As 

long as the bridegroom is with them they cannot fast. 
And in the account of our Lord's teaching upon the 
shore, the triple repetition of the word sea (iy. 1) : And 
he began again to teach by the 8EA-side : and there was 
gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered 
into a ship and sat in the sea ; and the whole multitude 
was by the sea, on the land And when his future 

1 Ps. lxix. 22. 



102 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

sufferings were foretold : They shall kill him, and after 
that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. And (xi. 
28), They say unto him, By what authority doest thou 
these things? and who gave thee this authority to 
do these things? In like manner, in the reply to the 
captious question of the Sadducees with respect to the 
resurrection of the woman who had had seven brothers 
for husbands, the reiteration of the words left no seed 
(xii. 20 — 22). Still more do we find a peculiar impres- 
siveness in the repetition of the great command of love, 
in that striking passage where Jesus replies to the ques- 
tion of the Scribes (xii. 29 — 31) : The first of all the 
commandments is; Hear, Israel! the Lord our God is 
one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength : this is the first com- 
mandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this, 
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none 
other commandment greater than these. Upon w^hich 
the Scribe (in St Mark) gives his assent to this reply by 
repeating the same sublime words (ver. 32, 33) : Well, 
Master, thou hast said the truth : for there is one God, 
and none other but he : and to love him with all the heart 
and with all the understanding, and with all the soul and 
with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, 
is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 
Does not our Evangelist shew in all these repetitions a 
sort of exactness, and at the same time fervour of mind, 
which reminds us of the Apostle's words : To write the 
same things to you, to me is not grievous, and for you it 
is safe (Philip, iii. 1) % 

Analogous to these repetitions are such phrases as the 
following, which again are peculiar to St Mark : blas- 



ST MARK. 103 

phemies ivhereivith soever they shall blaspheme (iii. 28) ; 

your TRADITION which ye have DELIVERED {prapahoaeL r) 

irape^wKare) — (vii. 13) ; from the beginning of the creation 
which God created (xiii. 19) ; and they feared with a 
great fear (iy. 41) ; and they were astonished with a 
great astonishment [y. 42). This last kind of repetition 
will remind any one who knows the genius of the Latin 
tongue of a very similar phraseology in it. 1 

Assuredly, if it may be said any where that the style is 
the man, 2 it is in the sacred Scriptures. But in the style 
of the Gospel of St Mark, in so far as we have been able 
to follow it into its minutest details, we have found some- 
thing so characteristic, so original, so distinctive, that 
that saying is peculiarly applicable to him. 

That style, that whole manner of seeing and observing 
facts, that peculiar mode of reducing them to writing, 
followed out in the case of St Mark with unvarying con- 
sistency, easily supplies us with a clear and distinct idea 
of the person and of the individuality of the author him- 
self. They betoken, in point of gifts and endowments, 
extraordinary clearness, depth, and power, in his view 
and conception of whatever he undertakes to describe ; — 
in point of character, what we would call strong indivi- 
duality ; — and in point of personal and practical excel- 
lence as a Christian, a mind of lofty aim and great 
sincerity, a steadfast disposition and fervid spirit, equally 
penetrated with the importance of all that he relates, 
and the value of the souls in whose behalf he gives his 
testimony. Who but such an one could have produced 
a Gospel history so carefully elaborated in its details, and 
at the same time, sentence after sentence so nervous in 

1 The well-known one of vivere vitam, ludere ludum, &c. 
* Le style c'est Vhomme. 



104 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

its instructions, and so directly and earnestly addressed 
to the conscience % But there is something more ; it is 
perhaps not the character only, but also the profession, 
and to a certain degree the history, of the author of this 
Gospel, which we see decidedly indicated in the observa- 
tions we hare thus far collected and combined. In order 
to find these results, let us advert for some moments 
further to our second Evangelist, as he falls under our 
contemplation when compared with his predecessor St 
Matthew. The latter presents to us the language and the 
tone of an apostle who contemplates and relates things 
as seen from the point of view suggested by the ancient 
prophets ; St Mark, his fellow-worker, occupying a lower 
point of view, but not less assured of his holy vocation 
and his competency, seizes and delineates things in the 
most visible and palpable (I had almost said prosaic and 
matter-of-fact) reality of their accomplishment. St Mat- 
thew supplies an ample treasure, an abundant overflow 
of doings and sayings ; St Mark, a wise conciseness, and, 
as it were, economy of expressions, conjoined with a suc- 
cessful elaboration of each detail, so that nothing may 
be lost. In St Matthew we have the freedom and copi- 
ousness of expression to be expected from an eyewitness, 
who has the full consciousness that he saw and was him- 
self present, and never dreams of any distrust among his 
readers ; in St Mark we have the scrupulous exactness 
of a more subaltern witness, whose office it is to fill up, 
to point off, and to finish the work of the eyewitness 
and apostle, with the aid of another apostle, who was 
likewise an eyewitness. In the Gospel of St Matthew 
we have, so to speak, the flowing costume of the stately 
East, which sweeps the ground with its folds ; in that of 
St Mark, the close-girt dress of the man who runs for a 



ST MAEK. 105 

prize, or of the soldier on duty. Every where in St 
Matthew we have the Eastern and Israelite life, element, 
and principle ; in St Mark, the Western and Roman 
life, element, and principle. 

This Roman and non-Israelite character has been 
recognised and remarked by many in the plan and style 
of St Mark's Gospel. In onr opinion, however, they have 
taken quite a wrong view of it, as resulting from the 
object for which the author wrote, or from his particular 
vocation, as called, in the first instance, to instruct and 
edify Gentiles or Romans. But no. This Roman, this 
non-Israelite character which distinguishes St Mark, is 
not sufficiently explained by alleging that he wrote origi- 
nally for readers born in heathendom, or for Roman 
Christians. Why not prefer this simple explanation, 
that he, the son of St Peter in the faith, was in point of 
fact born himself among the heathen — nay, was himself 
a Roman ? No doubt, we must dismiss any such idea 
if we are to assume his being the Johx Mark, son of 
Mary, and nephew of Barnabas the Levite, whom the 
book of Acts brings us acquainted with. But we have 
already shewn how little real ground there is for this 
supposition, however generally it may be entertained. 
And why should not the friend and fellow-labourer of St 
Peter have been a Gentile by birth, as well as St Luke, 
the friend and companion of St Paul \ Yes, how strik- 
ing, if the fact be once admitted, that our four Gospels 
should thus have had for authors, not only two apostles 
of Israel, but two evangelists also, one Greek and one 
Roman, from the nations that were admitted to the fel- 
lowship of the Gospel ! How striking that thus, from the 
very first among the historical witnesses of the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ, the middle wcdl of partition is seen to be 



106 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

taken away I But before entering more fully into this 
hypothesis, or rather, the better to follow out bur inquiry 
into the person of our second Evangelist, this seems to 
be the fitting place for a review, in some particulars, of 
this Roman, and, to speak more generally, Christian- 
Gentile character of St Mark, which we have stated our 
reasons for conjecturing that he possessed. 

With respect to what is characteristically Roman in 
St Mark, we have already fixed our regards on certain 
modes of constructing sentences that are peculiar to him, 
and that are conceived in the spirit of the language of 
the Romans. But, over and above this, he employs cer- 
tain Latin words in a Greek form, which occur in the 
New Testament nowhere else. Thus (vi. 27), the word 
G-7T6KovXdTcop (the purely Latin word speculator), which 
the translations render less correctly executioner. We 
shall recur to this expression hereafter. So, likewise, the 
centurion is not called by him as by St Matthew and St 
Luke, in pure Greek, iKaTovrdp^rj^, but in Latin-Greek, 
fcevTvplav (centurio). — xv. 39 — 44. The same Evan- 
gelist, and only he, explains the two mites of the widow 
by the Latin-Greek word xpSpavrr)? (quadrans), being the 
fourth part of the well-known Roman as. 

The Roman point of view in St Mark further comes 
out in the division, found only in his Gospel, of the 
night into four watches, with which, according to his 
usual practice, he partly abridges, partly extends, the 
parallel passage in St Matthew. This occurs in the 
everywise important parable which we read in the three 
first Gospels with the following differences : — 

Matth. xxiv. 42. Makk xiii. 33. Luke xii. 35. 

Watch therefore : for Take ye heed, watch Let your loins be 

ye know not what hour and pray : for ye know girded about, and your 

your Lord doth come, not when the time is, lights burning; 36. 



ST MARK. 



107 



43. But know this, 
that if the gopd man 
of the house had known 

IN WHAT WATCH the 

thief would come, he 
would have watched, 
and would not have 
suffered his house to 
be broken up. 44. 
Therefore he ye also 
ready: for in such an 
hour as ye think not 
the Son of man coni- 
eth. 45. Who then is 
a faithful and wise ser- 
vant, whom his lord 
hath made ruler over 
his household, to give 
them meat in due sea- 
son? 46. Blessed is 
that servant, whom his 
lord when he cometh 
shall find so doing. 



34. For the Son of 
man is as a man tak- 
ing a far journey, who 
left his house, and gave 
authority to his ser- 
vants, and to every 
man his work, and 
commanded the porter 
to watch. 35. Watch 
ye therefore: for ye 
know not when the 
master of the house 
cometh, at even, or at 
midnight, or at the 
cock-crowing, or IX 
the morning: 36. 
Lest, coming suddenly, 
he find you sleeping. 
37. And what I say 
unto you, I say unto 
aD, Watch. 



And ye yourselves like 
unto men that wait for 
their lord, when he will 
return from the wed- 
ding; that when he 
cometh and knocketh, 
they may open unto 
him immediately. 37. 
Blessed are those ser- 
vants, whom the lord 
when he cometh shall 
find watching : verily 
I say unto you, that 
he shall gird himself, 
and make them to sit 
down to meat, and will 
come forth and serve 
them. 38. And if he 
shall come in the se- 
cond watch, or come 
in the third watch, 
and find them so, bless- 
ed are those servants. 
39. And this know, 
that if the good man 
of the house had known 
what hour the thief 
would come, he would 
have watched. &c. 



This division of the night into four night watches is of 
Roman origin ; the Jews reckoned properly but three, 
and it was not until a subsequent period that they 
adopted the Roman fourth. Hence we find iu St Mat- 
thew (xiv. 25) this fourth watch of the night, although it 
is remarkable that in St Luke, at the passage quoted, 
mention is made only of the second and third watch of 
the night. But the Roman characteristic remains, at all 
events, in St Mark, in the full and detailed designation 
of the four watches of the night, each with its special 
name, evening, midnight, cock-crowing (gallicinium), and 
morning. 



108 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



A principal and decisive passage, serving to elucidate 
not only the peculiar position of St Mark, but also his 
national descent, is presented to us anew in an important 
extension with which he enlarges a passage in his prede- 
cessor. 



Matth. XV. 1. 
Then came to Jesus scribes and 
Pharisees, which were of Jerusa- 
lem, saying, 2. Why do thy dis- 
ciples transgress the tradition of 
the elders? for they wash not 
their hands when they eat bread, 
&c. 



Makk vii. 1. 
Then came together unto him 
the Pharisees, and certain of the 
scribes, which came from Jerusa- 
lem. 2. And when they saw some 
of his disciples eat bread with de- 
filed (that is to say, with un- 
washen) hands, they found fault. 
3. For the Pharisees, and all the 
Jews, except they wash their hands 
oft, eat not, holding the tradition 
of the elders. 4. And when they 
come from the market, except they 
wash, they eat not. And many 
other thiugs there be which they 
have received to hold, as the wash- 
ing of cups, and pots, brazen ves- 
sels, and of tables. 5. Then the 
Pharisees and scribes asked him, 
"Why walk not thy disciples ac- 
cording to the tradition of the 
elders ? 



Here we find in St Mark an extension, a development, 
an elucidation of St Matthew's text, through the addition 
of details that are evidently given for the benefit of a 
circle of non-Israelite readers. The explanations relate 
to matters perfectly well known in Israel, and which, as 
such, did not require to be mentioned by St Matthew at 
all. Such an elucidation, however, was required for 
Gentile readers, whether they were already converted, or 
had still to be converted. Yet this explanatory state- 
ment, if I mistake not, is not given by our author as one 
of Jewish birth would have given it to a foreigner, but 



ST MARK. 109 

manifestly in the tone and with the words to be expected 
from a well-informed narrator, who nevertheless was just 
as much a foreigner and a Gentile as those whom he ad- 
dressed. The more we reflect on the expression all the 
Jews, the more we feel convinced that he who wrote thus 
was not himself a Jew by birth ; and consequently, that 
whatever in this Gospel is written from a non-Israelite 
point of view, must be explained not only by the position 
of those to whom this Gospel was addressed, but also 
by the national origin and national peculiarities of the 
person by whom it was written. 

And now, having once adopted this principle, how 
much more natural and more simple becomes the expla- 
nation of what we have observed to be left out in this 
second Gospel, specially, for example, the mention of 
Samaritans, the exclamation of Woe upon the Pharisees 
and the Scribes, and over the three cities of Galilee, and 
over Jerusalem. Xothing of this fell within the scope of 
St Mark and his Gospel. Writing as a Roman, and for 
readers who did not belong to Palestine, the Samaritan 
part of the population of the Holy Land seemed of less 
consequence from the point of view he occupied, and his 
eye was naturally fixed more steadily on the grand divi- 
sion of the world into Jews and Gentiles. And as for 
the Woes pronounced upon the Pharisees, he was no 
doubt called upon as a faithful Evangelist to mention, in 
general, the testimony of our Lord against the errors and 
the traditions of the Pharisees, who made the law of no 
effect ; but a feeling of delicacy made it most natural, 
that in doing so, he, an Evangelist from among the Gen- 
tiles, and writing for the Gentiles, should not give any 
special emphasis to judgments pronounced on Jewish 
descriptions of men alone. And how much more still 



110 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

may tins be said with respect to Jerusalem ? He could 
not, he might not, allow to pass unnoticed the minute 
prediction by our Lord of the destruction of that city 
(chap, xiii.) ; but to have inserted here still further parti- 
culars respecting that denunciation of the Holy City of 
the Jews, might, from the pen of a converted Roman, 
have looked like a shout of triumph, incompatible with 
the delicacy of feeling becoming a true convert to the 
Christ of Israel. Desirous to avoid the very appearance 
of any thing of this sort, his pen, in its rapid course, 
touches not those details which St Luke, on the contrary, 
though no less a Gentile by birth, was called upon to 
adopt in his Gospel, for a reason and in a manner which 
we shall see afterwards. 

We have now advanced some steps further in an ac- 
quaintance with the person of the author of our second 
Gospel. St Mark wrote not only for the Gentiles by 
birth, but as a man who was himself a converted Gentile 
— a Roman who had become a Christian. His Gospel, 
so characteristic in all respects in point of style, enables 
us perhaps to discover something more with regard to 
him, on our scrutinizing it still more deeply. What if St 
Mark, our second Evangelist, may be proved to have been 
not only a Roman by birth, but a Roman soldier also by 
profession 1 

It strikes me that we may discover in the style, in the 
disposition, and the whole spirit of our second Gospel, 
a military character, which reveals itself more and 
more the more we study it in a sufficient number of de- 
tails. And, first of all, methinks I see this character in 
the union of two qualities which in several parts of St 
Mark strike one at a glance ; the rapidity with which he 



ST MARK. Ill 

carries you along in his narrative, and, at the same time, 
the exactness and precision with which he states his de- 
tails. The better to understand this, let us take up, for 
the purpose of comparison, some military report or nar- 
rative of ancient or modern times, drawn up in the spirit 
of that profession, and by a more or less practised hand, 
and we shall invariably find these two qualities combined 
— economy, so to speak, of words — compression and 
terseness of style, on the one hand ; and copiousness of 
details, on the other hand, on local, and indeed all sorts 
of circumstances. It has been chiefly upon a deliberate 
comparison of the style of Caesar's Commentaries with 
that of our second Gospel, that I have found a striking 
resemblance between them in the qualities just mentioned. 
In both we have the same emphatic repetition of the same 
leading words and things, combined with the same rapi- 
dity of movement in the narrative. The same animation 
and celerity, combined with an equal copiousness of scenic 
description, distinguish both authors. The very word 
straightway (evOew), which is such a favourite with St 
Mark, and is employed in his Gospel about forty times, 
appears in the writings of the great Roman captain in 
his ever-recurring celeriter. 

But, besides this, the soldier betrays himself at every 
turn in our Evangelist St Mark, by many expressions 
which must have become familiar to him in the course of 
his professional life, and which, so to speak, seem to 
escape unwittingly from his pen. Thus, for example, in 
the above-quoted mention of the man who beheaded John 
the Baptist, and whom he calls by the Latin-Greek name 
speculator. This speculator was by no means, as we have 
remarked, an executioner, but a soldier, such as among 
the Romans, and, in this case, in conformity with Roman 



112 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

customs, was employed by Herod to carry into effect a 
sentence of death. 1 Still more evidently does the soldier 
shew himself in that other strong expression which St 
Mark employs (xiv. 44) in place of that nsed by St 
Matthew (xxvi. 48) as the sign used by the traitor Judas 
to point out which of the party was his Master to the 
armed multitude. This word sign (arj^etov) becomes 
under the pen of St Mark a sort of token, a preconcerted 
sign, a word employed by ancient authors to express a 
military sign — a watchword (o-vo-arifiov). 2 

But while thus led on by the observations and examples 
that have occurred to us, to enter more deeply into an 
examination of St Mark's Gospel, we find ourselves every 
where forcibly reminded of military customs in that curt- 
ness of speech, that tone of command, which characterise 
his narrations every time we compare him with the other 
Evangelists. Have we not, for example, a soldier's mode 
of thinking and expressing himself in the three simple 
words with which St Mark (iii. 13) makes us feel the 
elective power of Jesus in the calling of the Apostles : 
And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him 
whom he would (ov? rjOekev avros) % Or when our Lord, 
in a passage already quoted, introduces the similitude of 
the sower with that short but terse and authoritative call 
to attention — Heakken (iv. 3) 1 Or when afterwards he 
closes another parable of our Lord's, which has also been 
quoted, that of the householder who gives directions to 

1 Seneca de Ira, 1. i. c. 16 : Centurio supplicio propositus condere gladium 
speculatorem jubet. Here Lipsius remarks : Speculatorem genus militum. 
Millies rem pcenalem fere administrabant ; i. e., the speculator was a kind of 
soldier, soldiers generally executing penal sentences. 

2 Many places confirming this meaning of the word may be seen in Wetstein, 
in the Annotations of his edition of the New Testament (A? 1751) on Mark at 
the above passage. 2v(r(rr)fj.ov, Xoyos iv TroXefxco iiii yvcopiafico ra>v oliceiow 
de8o/j.evos — a watchword used to distinguish friends from enemies IN WAR. 



ST MARK.. 113 

his servants on leaving them, with these words to be 
found in his Gospel only (xiii. 27): What I say unto you, 
I say unto all, Watch ! Or when, prior to that, he 
alone records the two words of authority and power, 
Peace, Be still! — with which Jesus appeased the stormy 
sea and the unbridled winds — do we not recognise in the 
tone of these two words the idea that would impress 
itself on a soldier, familiar with the giving of the word of 
command, and with the idea of discipline ? 

But when we speak of the tone and manner of a sol- 
dier in the style of St Mark, we trust that no one will 
attach to that expression a meaning unworthy of the 
subject in hand. What we contemplate is the manly, 
the decided, the grave, the steadfast — whatever, in short, 
marks the genuine soldier in the ordinary course of life, 
and in the gospel gives such a charm to a faith like 
that of the centurion, so strikingly represented to us in 
Matthew (viii. 5-13), and in St Luke (vii. 1-10.) It is with 
the force and firmness of such a faith that St Mark ex- 
presses himself. In such a spirit, resolute, clear, dutiful, 
earnest in regard to the most urgent of all affairs, does 
he, at the close of his Gospel, give, as it were, the essence 
of the whole in these words of our Lord : He that be- 
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believ- 
eth not shall be damned (xvi. 16). Compare this short 
terse passage of the soldier-Evangelist with the closing 
announcement recorded by the apostle-Evangelist : Go 
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things ivhatsoever I 
have commanded you (Matth. xxviii. 19). 

We may now, perhaps, advance one step further in our 
investigation with respect to the person of so important 

H 



114 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

an author as that of the second Gospel. Are we sure 
that something more may not possibly be found recorded 
in the New Testament, besides the name of our St Mark, 
and the ties by which he was associated with St Peter f 
That in natural character, in social relations, in national 
descent, he was quite a different person from the John 
Mark who accompanied Paul and Barnabas in their 
ministrations, and who was the Israelite son of a mother 
who belonged to Jerusalem, 1 seems now, after all that 
we have said, to be placed beyond a doubt. But who 
then is our St Mark, the son of St Peter in the faith 1 
He is nowhere mentioned by name except in the well- 
known passage of the Epistle (1 Pet. v. 23). But what 
should we light upon him in another passage of the New 
Testament, though his name be not given f What if some- 
where we meet with a devout soldier, at a highly impor- 
tant crisis, standing in so interesting a relationship with 
St Peter, that he might by pre-eminence be called his 
son in the faith? Be it observed that, in the gospel, 
every one is not understood to be such a son, whom any 
leading gospel minister may have by his preaching won 
to Christ ; but only such exclusively as by means of that 
preaching has been brought into a peculiarly tender rela- 
tionship with the preacher himself. Thus, for example, 
every one that was converted to the Lord through the 
instrumentality of St Paul, was not called by him his 
son ; but such only as Timothy, for instance, was, who at 
a highly critical moment of the Apostle's life, became 
intimately associated with him, by and for the gospel. 2 
Now, does not the New Testament history point out 
to us such a moment, as connecting St Peter with a 

1 Acts xii. 12 ; xiii. 5, 13. 

2 Acts xvi. 1-3. 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11. Compare Acts xiv. 19. 



ST MARK. 115 

soldier, like the one we think we have seen in St Mark \ 
We believe that it does so. Let us open the book of 
the Acts. There we find (ch. x. and xi.) the Gospel 
preached bj St Peter for the first time to the Gentiles. 
This preaching is preceded and accompanied with some 
remarkable circumstances. Cornelius, the Roman centu- 
rion at Cesarea, is commanded in a vision to send to 
Joppa for the apostle, St Peter. He sends, accordingly 
(x. 7), two of his household servants, and, as the princi- 
pal person naturally when such was the errand, a devout 
soldier of them that waited on him continually — a soldier, 
consequently, who must have been a fellow-proselyte in 
serving the God of Israel, and living in fellowship of prayer 
and good deeds with his pious superior officer. The Apostle 
Peter, on his side, had seen a vision, signifying and an- 
nouncing to him, on the part of God, the approaching 
full communion that was to unite Jews and Gentiles in 
the worship of the one true God. Anon the arrival of 
the deputed triumvirate was announced, and the devout 
soldier becomes one of the first Gentiles whose faces met 
St Peter after his receiving that new revelation from God. 
With him, and the other messengers and witnesses, St 
Peter sets off to the centurion's house. This is followed 
by his preaching there, by the outpouring of the Holy 
Ghost, and the baptism of Cornelius and all his house. 
Well may that hour have fixed itself on the apostle's 
memory ; and well may that have proved, not only an 
indissoluble, but the closest possible bond which united 
the apostle to the house, the person, and every individual 
member of the family of the privileged centurion. From 
this bond the devout soldier could not have been excluded ; 
on the contrary, he was just the person with whom the 
apostle must have contracted a particular intimacy, in the 



116 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

course of his preaching, and in the bonds of the faith. 
What a moment was that in the life of these two men, 
and in the whole history of the gospel ! But now, what 
more natural also, than that this subaltern from so highly 
privileged a house, should have been considered by the 
apostle afterwards as specially his son in the Gospel, and 
should have been associated as a companion and servant in 
the Gospel with St Peter ; that thus the author of the first 
Gospel that was addressed to the Gentiles should have 
been himself one of the first among the Gentiles to receive 
the Holy Ghost ; in other words, that our first Evangelist, 
St Mark the Roman, the thoughtful and devout soldier, 
was no other than that same devout soldier of whom the 
book of Acts makes mention at the passage to which we 
refer % 

This idea, however, I propose here only as a conjecture, 
although convinced that it will seem more and more pro- 
bable the more we scrutinize and ponder our second 
Gospel. One word more let me add, as it will serve to 
strengthen this idea by a sort of proof, if not strictly 
mathematical, at least in harmony with the nature of the 
thing. Let any one, after all that has been observed, 
compare the preaching of St Peter to the Gentiles by 
birth, 1 with this Gospel of the soldier converted to Christ. 
What will he find'? Why, first of all, the opening in 
both cases is the same : The Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
beginning with the baptism of John. But now for the 
conclusion also ; in Mark (xvi. 19, 20): So then, after the 
Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven, 
and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth 
and preached every ivhere, the Lord working with them, 

and CONFIRMING THE WORD WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING. 
1 Acts x. 36, 37, and following verses. 



ST MARK. 117* 

In the account also given in the Acts (x. 44), the preach- 
ing of St Peter is instantly confirmed by the descent of 
the Holy Ghost on all that heard the word. Here at least 
there is harmony. But this harmony may be traced to 
an effect of Mark's memory, if ^e have only any good 
ground for concluding that our Evangelist, as a fellow- 
believer in the house of Cornelius, had been an eye- 
witness of St Peter's first preaching to the Gentiles, 
and of the signs that immediately followed ; and in that 
case, the impression made, and the gift received on that 
day, were more than probably the originating causes to 
which we may trace his whole Gospel — that Gospel which 
some Church fathers have not inappropriately called a 
Gospel preaching of St Pete?". 1 

Thus, then, by the many distinguishing traits which 
our second Gospel presents, have we been able, perhaps, 
to penetrate to a knowledge, not only of the internal 
tissue and grand leading principle of that important 
Biblical composition, but also of the person of its author. 
In the peculiarities of his Gospel we seem to have dis- 
covered his character, his profession, his country, nay, the 
very history of his conversion. But our examination 
of the internal structure of the four Gospels has an in- 
comparably higher object in view. In connexion with 
the observations we have made, we would seek out 
the characteristic points that distinguish the portraiture 
of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as presented by 
each of our four sacred authors. What, then, is it in St 
Mark that peculiarly characterises this to us the dearest 
and most important of all delineations — the portraiture 
of our Lord ? 

And here we would again recall, with the view of 

1 Kr]pvt;is Uerpov. 



118 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

giving it a closer and more definite application, the general 
remark with which we started respecting the agreement 
and the diversity of the Gospels. It is the individual 
characters, the special gifts, the several distinct relation- 
ships, objects, vocations, and plans, of the four different 
Evangelists, to which we must look for an explanation at 
once of the intimate and perfect unity, and of the four- 
fold diversity of their writings. Let us now try the 
application of this principle to the diversity and to the 
agreement in the manner with which the Person itself 
of the Saviour is portrayed to us in the four different 
Gospels. And how possibly could there fail to be diver- 
sities in their manner of accomplishing this, the highest 
object of their writing 1 In Jesus Christ there is a ful- 
ness of which no one disciple or apostle could have given 
any adequate idea. Here was a subject which it is self- 
evident never could have been exhausted by any number 
of authors, whoever they might be. 1 Thus to picture Christ 
to the eye in. equal fulness, that is, as an actual whole, and 
that in all his aspects, one witness was very far from 
being sufficient ; but Divine Wisdom could here accom- 
plish its object by means of a fourfold testimony and a 
four-sided delineation. In order to this, each of the 
four Evangelists behoved to represent to us not only the 
doings and the sayings, but the very person of the Saviour, 
from his own individual point of view, and in harmony 
both with his own personal character and disposition, 
and with the special gifts bestowed on him by the Holy 
Ghost, under whose immediate inspiration he wrote. 
Through that promised Spirit they beheld and they 
described the Lord Jesus, from a special, distinct, and 
always very definite position — all, however, as he really 

1 John xxi. 25. 



ST MARK. 119 

and truly was and shewed himself to be — and so that, as a 
final result, all these separate aspects meet together and 
harmonize in the most perfect and glorious oxe. But in 
order to this very result, it was necessary that these 
several views taken of that one grand object, besides 
being all equally true, should be each characteristically 
different, and consequently distinguishable. Hence we 
meet in one Gospel, as we have already said, Jesus 
Christ specially as the promised Messiah ; in another, 
as really come into the world; in a third, as conceived 
and anointed by the Holy Ghost ; in a fourth, as the gift 
of the Father ; — in one, as king and prophet ; in an- 
other, as shepherd and ruler; in a third, as high priest; 
in a fourth, as the only begotten Son; — in one, as Em- 
maxuel, God with us; in another, as the man Christ 
Jesus; in the third, as the great physician both of body 
and soul; in the fourth, as the true God and life eternal ; 
and so on, in many different ways. Not so, however, as 
if these various modes of contemplating and delineating 
our Lord mutually excluded each other in any measure : 
far from this ; in cdl four Gospels, all these different 
qualities or manifestations of the Lord Jesus are assumed 
to be equally essential ; only, in one of them, one of the 
above qualities — in another, another such quality — stands 
out more prominently, occupies more of the foreground, 
or, finally, forms the groundwork or kernel of the evan- 
gelical narrative. Now, the particular point of view 
from which each of the Evangelists contemplates and 
portrays the Saviour, stands in the closest connexion 
with his own proper personality, including in this term 
his personal disposition, his intellectual and spiritual 
wants, and his intellectual and spiritual gifts; — for even 
in this sense it may be said with truth, Old of his fulness 



120 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

have we all received ; — and, under the directing guidance 
of the Holy Ghost, each gives back what he has received, 
and what has been confided to him. 

Now, then, let us proceed to observe this special fea- 
ture in the Gospel of St Mark. Here, too, we shall find 
our views elucidated by a comparison with that of St 
Matthew. If, in the Gospel of that apostle, we had 
Jesus Christ exhibited to us as the promised Emmanuel, 
God with us, in St Mark's he stands more distinctly be- 
fore us as having become really and truly man — man in 
all points like as we are, except sin — man as respects 
soul and body — man among men and before God. 

To exhibit this humanity — this true and real huma- 
nity — in all our Lord's doings and sayings, yea, in all 
the emotions of his soul and all the movements of his 
body — such is the vocation of this Evangelist, with whose 
special talent and bent of mind we have now familiarized 
ourselves in so many ways, as one pre-eminently skilful 
in painting things to the life, and conceiving all things in 
their most visible reality. Hence St Mark's Gospel, 
placed side by side with that of St Matthew's, is that of the 
Son of man placed side by side with that of the Messias, 
the Son of God. Nevertheless, that it may be seen how, 
among the sacred authors, the most decided diversity in 
their points of view may be coupled with the most 
perfect unity in all truth, it so happens that this very 
Gospel, which exhibits to us the Christ in his entire 
humanity, is that which bears this superscription (i. 1), The 
beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God ; while St Matthew calls his (i. 1), The booh of the 
generation of Jesus Cheist, the Son of David, the 

SON OF Abe AHA M. 

What, then, are the respects, and of what sort are the 



ST MARK. 121 

particulars, by which this second Gospel may be recog- 
nised as the Gospel of our Lord's humanity? These 
are many and various. Nowhere, in the first place, do 
we see the human emotions of the sinless Saviour so 
minutely detailed and exhibited to us in appropriate 
expressions as in St Mark. Thus, in the cure of the deaf 
and dumb man in Decapolis, we here read of Jesus (vii. 
34), that, looking up to heaven, he sighed (eo-revage, a 
word nowhere else employed in speaking of our Lord). 
With a similar word, he sighed deeply (dvarevdgas, an 
expression occurring here alone in the New Testament), 
the Saviour's anguish of soul at the malice of the Phari- 
sees in tempting him is signified to us (viii. 12). Thus 
we have seen already the striking exhibition of our 
Saviour's mingled emotions with respect to the enmity 
felt towards him by the Scribes and Pharisees, recorded 
by St Mark (hi. 5) : And when he had looked round 
about on them with anger, beixg grieved for the hard- 
ness of their hearts. In like manner, it is St Mark who 
records how much displeased Jesus was (rjyavdKTrjae) at 
the disciples for preventing children being brought to 
him (x. 14); and how, on the other hand, he loved 
(x. 21) with a kindly feeling, more of a human nature, the 
rich young man on account of his natural amiability. 

The four Evangelists have repeatedly given us an idea 
of the look, or of the act of lifting the eyes upwards, in the 
blessed Saviour. Turning to St Luke (xxii. 61), let us 
but think of that look which went through the heart of 
St Peter when he had denied his Master, and which 
brought him to repentance ; or in St John (vi. 5) and St 
Luke (vi. 20), of that lifting up of the eyes of Jesus on 
the multitude when an hungered, or on the disciples as 



122 THE FOUR WITNESSES, 

the j longed to be taught bj him, or, finally, in St John 
(xi. 41 ; xvii. 1), of his lifting up his eyes in prayer. St 
Mark notes for us one further movement still, and a no 
less expressive movement of the eyes of our Lord in a 
word which seems to transport us into the circle imme- 
diately around him, and to place us, as it were, in his 
very presence, as he moved about among friends and foes. 
It is the Saviour's look as expressed by the Greek word 
7repL/3\e7rea6aL, to look round on all sides — a word which, 
with the single exception of a passage in St Luke (and 
that, too, adopted from St Mark), occurs only in our 
second Evangelist ; as, 1st, In the passage more than 
once referred to (iii. 5) : where Jesus looked round 
about on the Pharisees with anger and grief. 1 2nd, 
Where he replies to the message brought to him from his 
mother and his brethren (iii. 34): by looking round 2 
about on them tuhich sat about him, he declares that he 
looked upon them as his mother and his brethren. 3d, 
Where, upon being touched in the crowd by the woman 
who had an issue of blood, he looked round about to 
see her who had done it (ver. 32). 4th, Where, previous 
to his declaration with respect to the difficulty of a rich 
man's entering into the kingdom, he, as it were, first pre- 
pares his disciples for so solemn a declaration, by look- 
ing round about. Finally, 5th, Where, on entering the 
temple at Jerusalem, he looked round about upon all 
things (xi. 11), and when the evening was come, went 
out unto Bethany with the twelve, as preparatory to his 
purifying the temple on the following clay, a circumstance, 
with respect to the purification of the temple, equally 

1 St Luke (vi. 10J, has so far adopted this phrase thus : J.ftd looking round 
about upon them all. 

2 Properly, to look all round as in a circle (jrepi^Xey^diievos kvkKw.) 



ST MARK. 123 

minute and important, and found in St Mark alone 
(xi. 11-15). 

We are conducted by St Mark still further into the 
minute details of our Lord's life as man, and of his rela- 
tions with men on this earth, when he informs us with 
respect to his descent and parentage, always in his own 
peculiar manner, by means of a slight discrepancy between 
hiru and St Matthew and St Luke, forcibly and signi- 
ficantly detailed and extended. At Nazareth, the town 
in which he was brought up, his doctrine and his miracles 
had given rise to much amazement and scandal. Whence 
hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty ivories? Is 
not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother's name 
Mary ? Thus do we read in St Matthew (xiii. 54, 55) ; 
but in Mark (vi. 3), Is not this the carpenter, the son of 
Mary? This discrepancy between our two Gospels, ap- 
parently so unimportant, clearly reveals to us two striking 
circumstances in the private life of Jesus ; first, that he 
himself, along with his father, and apparently until his 
baptism in Jordan, followed at Nazareth the trade of a 
carpenter ; secondly, that in those days Joseph, the hus- 
band of Mary, must have long been dead. And thus it 
is that the Lord from heaven, he by whom the heaven and 
the earth were created, is found in his human nature exer- 
cising a trade on this earth, and by that trade, that labour 
of his own hands, provided, as a son and support, for 
Joseph's widow, the daughter of David, whose eldest son 
he was according to the flesh. 

Further, it is only in St Mark that we read the following 
detail, which throws a great deal of light on the manner 
in which the relations of Jesus at first contemplated 
his public teaching and actions (iii. 20, 21) : And they 
ivent into an house. And the multitude cometh toe/ether 



124 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And 
when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on 
him ; for they said, He is beside himself By the friends 
of Jesus, or rather those of his house (ol map avrov), we 
must understand his mother and his brethren, as appears 
from that passage in Matthew (xii. 46), and Luke (viii. 19), 
compared with Mark iii. 31, where the expression, there 
came then, evidently connects the narrative with the 
detail recorded by St Mark alone (ver. 21). Verse 21st 
must not be understood as if the kinsmen of Jesus said, 
that he is beside himself By the w r ord e\eyov, they said 
(people said), it is clear that we must understand the 
circulators of this opprobrious report. It was a report, 
however, which had sufficient influence on the mother and 
brethren of Jesus, particularly the latter, to make them 
think it proper for them to endeavour to restrain him, 
and to moderate those indefatigable labours which were 
causing so much talk among the multitude. 

Some other details of great importance, which yet 
have met with little attention, are given by St Mark, 
bearing upon our Lord's daily intercourse with his dis- 
ciples, and his conduct in public. No one speaks so 
much as St Mark does of the house, and of Jesus being in 
the house; for example, how at Capernaum he was in 
the house, and straighhuay many ivere gathered together, 
insomuch that there ivas no room to receive them, no not 
so much as about the dooe (ii. 1, 2). In like manner, 
shortly before (i. 32, 33), And at even, when the sun was 
set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and 
them that were possessed with devils. And all the 

CITY WAS GATHERED TOGETHER AT THE DOOR. We have 

elsewhere seen already how he notes, by an expressive 



ST MARK. 125 

repetition, the custom of Jesus to assemble the multitude, 
and to teach them by the seaside} A detail extremely 
simple, but one that transports us into the whole truth 
and reality of the scene, is recorded by him in the fol- 
lowing extension of the extremely short notice given by 
St Matthew : — 

Matth. xii. 15. Mark iii. 7. 

But when Jesus knew it, lie But Jesus withdrew himself 

withdrew himself from thence: and with his disciples to the sea: and 

great multitudes followed him, and a great multitude from Galilee fol- 

he healed them all. lowed him, and from Judaea, and 

from Jerusalem, and from Idumsea, 
and from beyond Jordan ; and they 
about Tyre and Sidon, a great multi- 
tude, when they had heard what great 
things he did, came unto him. Ajstd 

HE SPAKE TO HIS DISCIPLES, THAT A 
SMALL SHIP 1 SHOULD WAIT ON HIM, 
BECAUSE OF THE MULTITUDE, LEST 
THEY SHOULD THRONG HEM. For 

he had healed many. 

At yet another place St Mark has recorded one more 
highly characteristic detail with respect to our Lord's 
daily life, in an expression no less natural and affecting 
than it is short. It occurs at the commencement of the 
account of the storm on the sea of Galilee (iv. 36) : The 
disciples took him, even as he was, into the ship, that is 
to say, without any preparation for the comfort of the 
voyage. 3 Thus, perhaps, does St Mark give us in two 
words what we read in St Matthew, in a passage pre- 
senting the same idea (viii. 20) : The foxes have holes, 

^age 101. 

2 irkoiapiov. St Mark frequently makes use of diminutives, and in that too 
shews the spirit of the Latin tongue: Qvyarpiov, little daughter; Kopdaiov, 
little maid ; Ix^vSlov, little fish, &c. 

3 For thus, unquestionably, must we translate the Greek sentence, napaXap.- 
fidvovaiv civtov 122 HN' ev tco 7rXoio>, and not, as many translations have it, 
They took him, as he was in the ship. Here, too, we have the Latin ut erat. 



126 THE FOUB WITNESSES. 

and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head. 

This detail is followed immediately after by another. 
intimately associated with what we have just noticed. 
While the storm is sweeping over the waters. Jesus lies 
asleep in the small ship. Thus we read in the three 
Gospels (Matt. viii. 2-4, Mark it. 38, Luke viii. 24). But 
St Mark adds a circumstance equally picturesque and 
significant : And he was ra the hixdee part of the 

SHIP asleep UPON THE BENCH {to T-poGs:t(bd\cuor). By 

this word we are to understand the bench covered with 
leather, on which the rowers sat. and consequently by no 
means, as the translations most improperly render it. a 
pi/low. 1 Xo convenience brought on hoard for that pur- 
pose, bur only what the place itself offered, served for 
some moments as a couch to him who otherwise, on his 
own earth, had not where to lay his head. 

Peculiar to St Mark. also, are the different modes of 
representing our Saviour as walking in the temple.' 2 as 
seated over against the treasury in the temple, and as 
seated on the Mount of Olives oven against the temple 
(xi. 27 3 xii. 41. xiii. 3). 

But. above all. do we find something particularly strik- 
ing in the following minute circumstances bearing on our 
Lord's daily intercourse with his disciples, and recorded 
by St Mark alone. Like a tender and faithful shepherd, 
ever watching over his sheep, or like the general of an 

1 HeTSCH. To ^epuc-Lvby i~r;pe<jiov eO cp KnV^ovraL oi epeacrorrei : 

See several passage? quoted in WETSIEIN on this verse. Bexgee is somewhat 
stronger also on this verse of Sr Mark: ' It was a pan of die ship, as must be 
assumed from the article to. and a wooden part too. as Teeofhylact remarks." 
- St John is the only other that represents our Lord as on one occasion 
making this movement ^x. 28 s ): A : Jesus walked in the templein Solomon's 
porch. 



ST MARK. 127 

army seeing to the comfort of his wearied troops, and 
taking a kindly interest in their welfare — such do we 
see the blessed Saviour as represented by St Mark : 
Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, he says to 
his disciples (vi. 31), and rest awhile; for there were 
many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much 
as to eat. And in another place (x. 32), And they ivere 
in the way going up to Jerusalem ; and Jesus went be- 
fore them, and they were amazed, and as they folloived 
they were afraid. 

In yet another manner St Mark places in strong relief 
the human relations and the real humanity of Jesus. 
While St Matthew every where thinks of the worship 
addressed to Jesus, St Mark and St Luke bring chiefly 
before us the prayers offered by Jesus ; each, however, 
in his own peculiar manner, and in connexion with his 
own particular point of view — Luke, to wit, in connexion 
with the mighty results or events that followed on the 
Saviours prayer 1 — Mark, on the contrary, with his cha- 
racteristic force of expression and repetition, and with 
important details with respect to time and place (i. 35) : 
And in the morning, rising up A great while before 
day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, 
and there prayed. 

The means, or rather in general the interventions, in 
our Lord's miracles of healing, are nowhere placed in 
such strong relief as in St Mark. He shews us, first of 
all, how, in the objects of the Saviour's healing virtue, 
there was required faith, or at least the absence of all 
positively resisting unbelief. St Matthew (xiii. 58) notes 

1 Luke iii. 21, 22; ix. 29, &c. 



128 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

this also : He did not many mighty works there because 
of their unbelief; but how much more forcible and ex- 
pressive is St Mark in the parallel passage (vi. 5) : And 
he could there do no mighty vjork, save that he laid his 
hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he 

MARVELLED BECAUSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF. Such are the 

clearness and the force with which our second Evangelist 
exhibits to us our Lord's humanity in his actions and in 
his movements. And yet he does not leave out of sight 
the divinity of the incomparable Saviour. For example, 
he energetically gives prominence to his Divine essence, 
by the mere connecting of these two phrases in the his- 
tory of the cure of the possessed person who had the 
legion (v. 19) : Go home to thy friends, and tell them how 
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had 
compassion on thee. And he departed, the narrator im- 
mediately proceeds to say (v. 20), and began to publish 
in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him. 
St Luke has evidently borrowed from St Mark in the 
parallel passage (viii. 39) this striking interchange of 
expressions: Retw^n to thine own house, and shew hovj 
great things God hath done unto thee. And he vjent 
his way, and published throughout the whole city hovj 
great things Jesus had done unto him. 

But besides this faith on man's part, in which lies the 
capacity for receiving every benefit from the Lord, who 
restores and heals, Jesus always accompanied his healing 
and saving power with the intermediate instrumentality 
of prayer, or thanksgiving, or of a word of authority, or 
of the uplifting or some other motion of the hands, or of 
some other bodily movement. The apostles, when per- 
forming cures in his name, in like manner accompanied 
what they did, or, if you will, operated intermediately, 



ST MARK. 129 

with the intervention of some object or other, such as 
the handkerchiefs mentioned in the Acts (xix. 12). In 
particular, thej made use of oil, a circumstance which we 
find recorded bj St Mark alone (vi. 3), and to which, 
most probably, allusion is made in the oft-abused passage 
in St James (v. 14, 15). We never read that Jesus 
himself made this use of oil, though certainly of his own 
spittle, of which we have a remarkable example in the 
Gospel of the apostle St John, on the occasion of the 
cure of the man who was born blind (chap, ix.) But 
beyond this single passage in St John, the author of our 
second Gospel is the only one (and this, again, with the 
exuberance of details which is peculiar to him) that has 
fixed our attention on the cures wrought by our Saviour 
with spittle, by touching with his hands, or by the im- 
pression of his fingers. And this it is that brings us 
back here to two narratives of St Mark's, which have no- 
where else (as we have said above) been recorded in the 
four Gospels. Let us read both at full length, placed in 
juxtaposition, in order to see more clearly their points of 
agreement., 

Makk vii. 32. Maek viii. 22. 

And they bring unto him one And he cometh to Bethsaida ; 

that was deaf, and had an iinpe- and they bring a blind man unto 

diment in his speech ; and they him, and besought him to touch 

beseech him to put his hand (rf]v him. And he took the blind man 

x*ta) upon him. And he took by the hand, and led him out of 

him aside from the multitude, and the town ; and when he had spit 

put his fingers into his ears, and on his eyes, and put his hands 

he spit, and touched his tongue ; upon him, he asked him if he saw 

and looking up to heaven, he aught. And he looked up, and 

sighed, and saith unto him, Eph- said, I see men as trees, walking. 

phatha, that is, Be opened. And After that he put his hands again 

straightway his ears were opened, upon his eyes, and made him look 

and the string of his tongue was up : and he was restored, and saw 

loosed, and he spake plain. And every man clearly (ivefiXeyj/e rrjXav- 

he charged them that they should y&s). And he sent him away to 

1 



130 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

tell no man : but the more he his house, saying, Neither go into 
charged them, so much the more the town, nor tell it to any in the 
a great deal they published it ; town, 
and were beyond measure asto- 
nished, saying, He hath done all 
things well: he maketh both the 
deaf to hear, and the dumb to 



In these two narratives we still meet with that minute 
exactness of detail 'which is every where so peculiar to 
St Mark — the separation of the suffering person from 
the midst of the multitude, or the taking him out of the 
town ; the prohibition of any reporting of the matter 
abroad ; then, in the one narrative, the looking up and 
sighing of Jesus, the proper Syrian word pronounced by 
him at the moment of his operating the cure, and, finally, 
the astonishment and exclamations of the multitude, He 
hath done all things well, &c. ; in the other narrative, 
the repeated touching of the blind man's eyes, in conse- 
quence of which he first sees things dimly and indis- 
tinctly, and afterwards clearly and correctly. What is 
common to both is the use of the spittle, and the touch- 
ing with the hands, but in the case of the deaf and 
dumb, specially with the fingers. From these examples 
we learn, in a very definite manner, and as if by ocular 
demonstration, how the power of God which was in 
Jesus, and which gloriously displayed itself in the sight 
of men, pierced continually through the covering of his 
proper humanity. Here all took place supernaturally, 
and yet at the same time by the intervention of means, 
of operations, of methods. Here all is Divine — but all, 
too, is likewise human; and so we find the Divine and 
the human united, that is to say, indivisibly one, in 
the God-man Jesus Cheist. Here St Mark gives pal- 
pable evidence of the truth of St Peter's preaching in 



ST MARK. 131 

the house of Cornelius : Jesus of Nazareth, whom God 
anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power: who 

WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD, AND HEALING ALL THAT WERE 

oppressed of the deyil ; 1 for God was with him (Acts 
x. 38). The part which the Holy Ghost had in all this 
is distinctly explained to us by St Luke, as we shall see 
afterwards. 

Having in this manner made ourselves acquainted with 
the Gospel of St Mark, we can no longer be surprised 
to find in it precisely that intercalation which is so 
much spoken of, and which, on a superficial view, seems 
to indicate a positive inferiority on the part of the Son of 
God to the Father. Speaking of the great day of the 
consummation of all things, the Saviour, according to St 
Matthew, had said (xxiv. 36), But of that day and hour 
knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my 
Father only. In St Mark we read (xiii. 32), But of that 
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels 
which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. 
Here it is evident that what is meant is only the 
human knowledge of Jesus. Had he not said shortly 
before, that heaven and earth should pass away, but my 
words shall not pass away (xiii. 31) 1 How, then, could 
He, who was one with the Father, and to whom the 
Father had so positively given the power of exercising 
judgment (John v. 27), according to his Divine nature, 
and as having an existence identical with that of the 
Father, have been ignorant of any thing \ Accordingly, 
what is meant here can only have been that human 

1 It is remarkable, again, in connexion with this place and the relation be- 
tween St Mark and St Peter, the frequent mention in our Evangelist of ivicked, 
in his Gospel generally called unclean, spirits (irvevixaTa aKdOapra), 



132 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

nature which was adopted by the Son of God, who, hav- 
ing in his infancy been capable of growth and progress, 
could likewise, at the moment here referred to, look 
forward to an increase of knowledge, and in a relative 
sense know neither the day nor the hour. In what 
manner this knowing and not knowing could be alike real 
and true in the person of Jesus Christ, remains ever a 
mystery, just as the nature of the most high God in all 
things necessarily is. Further, that it should be St Mark 
who so expressly testifies here to the human not-knowing 
of the Lord Jesus, is quite in harmony with what we 
have hitherto remarked with respect to the special rela- 
tion between this Gospel and the description of the 
human nature of our Saviour. And if the question be 
put, why our Lord's humanity comes to be indicated 
here by a name which ordinarily, in the Evangelical 
writings, designates his divinity {the Son), this difficulty 
may be solved by the simple remark, that the sacred 
writers are always accustomed to couple with the men- 
tion of the Saviour's divinity or glory, some name per- 
taining to his humanity or his state of humiliation ; and 
so in like manner, vice versa, to attach to something 
that characterises his humanity, a name or title pertain- 
ing to his divinity. Of this there are numerous ex- 
amples : Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 

POWER, AND RICHES, AND WISDOM, AND STRENGTH, AND 
HONOUR, AND GLORY, AND BLESSING (Rev. V. 12); CRUCI- 
FIED the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. ii. 8); killed the 
Prince of Life (Acts iii. 15) ; and hence also, and in 
conformity with the same rule : the Son of that day and 
hour knoweth not, that is, He who as respects his God- 
head is the Son, in his state of human humiliation, of 
himself knew of the day and hour nothing. 



ST MARK. 133 

It is time now that we should sum up and review the 
remarks we have had occasion to make on St Mark and 
his Gospel. First, then, we saw that this Gospel bears 
the indications of a close relationship betwixt its author 
and the apostle St Peter, and that, in virtue of this rela- 
tionship, it comprises within itself a double apostolic 
testimony, in conformity with the two different sources 
whence our Evangelist drew his information — the writ- 
ten testimony of St Matthew, which he knew, which he 
had before him, and which supplied him with the first 
materials for his sublime subject ; and the oral testi- 
mony of St Peter, to whom he was in a great measure 
indebted for that multiplicity of details by which his 
Gospel is so eminently distinguished. Next, we foimd 
those details incorporated by our Evangelist in the form of 
a multitude of amplifications of the work of St Matthew — 
phrases intercalated, remarks thrown in, short parentheses, 
sometimes a single word inserted, altered, or rendered 
more emphatic, sometimes mere transpositions, or mere 
repetitions of a single word, and the whole equally terse 
and nervous. On the other hand, much that in St Mat- 
thew may be traced to the apostolic, Israelitic, prophetic 
— in a word, to the personal view he took of the matters 
which he relates, is either omitted altogether, or visibly 
compressed and abridged by St Mark. The spirit and 
tendency of those augmentations, as well as of these 
abridgements, are always referable to the special charac- 
ter of that Gospel; to wit, a determination, by a careful 
and minute expiscating of particulars, to delineate with 
more precision what St Matthew had sketched rather 
than described — to compress it powerfully, and work out 
and picture it to the mind in all its finest strokes and 
richest colouring. Then we found St Mark's whole style 



134 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

in perfect harmony with this his special gift and calling. 
That style betokens an author of an ardent temper, a 
powerful character, a firm and thoughtful spirit — a mind 
penetrated, above all things, with the truth, the reality, 
and the practical importance of the things which he 
describes, and to which he gives his testimony. In his 
general method of composition and description, as well 
as in many of the peculiarities exclusively pertaining to 
our second Evangelist, we could trace at once his na- 
tional descent, his social profession, and, if we are not 
mistaken in following out the same course of conjecture, 
the very story of his conversion, and some of the details 
connected with that event. We recognised in him the 
Gentile by birth, the Roman by nation, the soldier by his 
calling — personally, no other than the soldier who formed 
part of the household of Cornelius, and who, as well as 
his commanding officer, was a godly proselyte to Judaism, 
and in his name carried a message to St Peter, inviting 
him to come to Csesarea, and to commence the preaching 
of the gospel to the Gentiles. Thus it is that his title, 
and the relationship it implies, son of St Peter, first be- 
comes clear and important. Finally, as the grand cha- 
racteristic of the Gospel of St Mark is, in general, the 
lively and graphic representation of the matters which it 
puts on record ; so, in point of result, we saw the person 
itself of our Lord Jesus Christ portrayed in the most 
minute truth of that humanity which he assumed, which 
he presented in this world as an object for men's eyes to 
behold and their hands to touch, and which he exhibited 
in all the various intercourse of everyday life. The 
Emmanuel, announced to us by St Matthew as come 
forth, as it were, from the higher regions of the prophecies, 
the promises, and the counsels of the God of Israel, we 



ST MARK. 135 

behold, in St Mark, come down into the realities of human 
nature and human life, always excepting sin. In this 
Gospel we saw the Christ very man, exhibited to us in 
all the details of his daily life and daily conversation, 
without its author having a thought of investing his 
subject with any adventitious ornaments — placed before 
us, in imposing simplicity, by the able pen of the frank and 
unsophisticated soldier. The Gospel of St Mark, com- 
mencing with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, and 
closing with his being seated at the right hand of God, 
became to us, when viewed in this light, the brief and 
terse narrative of that three years' campaign, so to speak, 
of the supreme Captain of our Salvation — whose name 
from of old was Warrior as well as Prince of Peace — 
carried on and completed, for the deliverance of our 
souls, the bruising of Satan, the glorifying of the Father, 
in his labours, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection 
and final triumphs. 

And now let the reader peruse for himself this Gospel, 
and in this perusal let him test the applicability of the 
remarks and views we have presented. But let it be 
read as a whole, and only as a whole. Both in the daily 
reading and in the scientific study of the Bible, people 
are too little accustomed to read it in this manner. 
They read and they study single passages and para- 
graphs ; they read it chapter by chapter. Now, no 
doubt, in the reading of God's Word, there are various 
methods and different plans with respect to the order to 
be pursued. But if one would obtain a complete idea of 
the whole, and pierce into the essential character of any 
apostolical or evangelical writing, let him read at one 
sitting an epistle, or a gospel, as a whole, and each by 



136 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

itself, as one would read a letter addressed and sent to 
us at the present day from far or near ; or as one reads 
in a history some account of any particular period or 
series of events, where all hangs together, from beginning 
to end, from introduction to conclusion. In this manner 
let any one take up for once St Mark also, and view his 
production as, what it really is, one consistent whole. 
Then it is that a sound and simple mind will be con- 
vinced of the impossibility of any fictitious writing or 
embellishment, premeditated or unpremeditated, in that 
remarkable production, and of the impossibility of there 
having been any other object contemplated in its com- 
position than the truth, the pure truth, the truth of God. 

Let us now conclude with an application of these re- 
marks on the harmony of our Gospels. The agreement 
with St Matthew on the one hand, and with St Luke on 
the other, presents in the principal points few, or rather 
no difficulties. In so far, in particular, as the difference 
between St Matthew and St Mark consists in this, that 
the former relates matters in a summary and general 
manner, the latter more at length and in detail, one may 
say that there is not even the semblance of contradic- 
tion. Betwixt St Mark and St Luke the case is still 
more evident. Even in matters of detail these two 
(each, however, always in his own style and peculiar 
colouring) are so accordant with each other, that the 
third Gospel has evidently taken these from the second. 
True, each has its characteristic amplifications, as we had 
occasion at first to remark ; but these again are so meted 
out between the two Evangelists, that they nowise come 
into collision with each other, or even in outward appear- 
ance contradict each other. 



ST MARK. 137 

With respect to the numerical statements of St Mat- 
thew and St Mark, we have seen that they occasionally 
differ. But St Mark has this difference in common with 
St Luke ; and it has already been shewn in what manner 
the combined testimony of the second and third Evan- 
gelist, — as, for example, in the mentioning of one blind 
and of one possessed person, instead of the two spoken 
of by St Matthew, decides the matter in favour of the 
singular number; whilst in the Gospel of this last we 
found the reasons which explain the ordinary employ- 
ment by him of the plural or dual in such passages. 

Nevertheless, St Mark has not always changed this 
somewhat vague plural of St Matthew into a positive 
singular. Thus, for example, he speaks of the thieves 
who reviled Jesus — in this exactly following St Matthew. 
And, in like manner, he does not always differ with St 
Matthew in the order of his narratives, but, at the same 
time, he is not always at one with him. Whence this 
apparent inconsistency with himself? It is because St 
Mark does not apply himself of set purpose to give a 
more correct and definite chronological arrangement, or 
to state numbers precisely, where he found looseness and 
indefiniteness in his predecessor, but then only does this 
when the special object and character of his narrative 
seem likely to be served by it. Wherever this is not 
the case, he simply adopts the account given by that 
predecessor. St Luke, on the contrary, writes his Gospel 
with the set purpose of reviewing and arranging the 
whole in order from the commencement (Luke i. 1-4), 
and St Mark smooths the way for this, without, however, 
himself following any fixed chronological order, or observ- 
ing any rigorous accuracy of this kind in his narratives. 

We have in this, again, a clear proof that St Mark did 



138 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

not compose his Gospel after and according to that of St 
Luke. Had he had that of St Luke before him, there 
could have been no reason whatever for his departing, 
from time to time, from the evident order observed in 
that Gospel, to return to that of the first Gospel, which 
we have observed to be vague and general. Here, on 
the contrary, by keeping to the common order of succes- 
sion, first St Matthew, next St Mark, after him St Luke, 
we have a regular gradation, a progression which we can 
perceive, a decided organical development. The Gospel 
in St Matthew (as if the glorious child hardly born of the 
fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament) develops itself 
into adolescence in St Mark, attains its full manhood in 
St Luke, and becomes at last, in the hands of the nona- 
genarian St John, the living expression of the hoary 
saint, who, still full of life, and looking back on the glo- 
rious things which he had witnessed, and in which he 
had taken part in his youth, puts them now, at the close, 
in connexion with the future which he sees approaching, 
and with the eternal life upon which he is just about to 
enter. 

And now one question further with respect to the 
words of Jesus, as recorded in manifestly different ways 
by the different evangelical authors. Shall we pronounce 
this difference the consequence of caprice and inaccuracy 
on the part of the writers, or shall we consider it as 
casual and a matter of indifference ? But here anew all 
is involved in the difference in the points of view, in the 
personality, in the calling of the authors, and in the spe- 
cial but equally real direction, operation, and influence 
put forth by the Holy Ghost upon each. As from the very 
first there was in the person of our Saviour a richness 
and fulness which were capable of being drawn upon, 



ST MARK. 139 

and behoved to be drawn upon, in various ways, so was 
it with the words which he uttered. None of the Evan- 
gelists presents these words with a complete literal fide- 
lity, except only when, for example, our very St Mark, 
as we have seen, gives us an idea of the actual language 
in which Jesus spoke, by rendering a few of his words 
in the Aramaean, which was his national and everyday 
dialect. But all had the liberty, the right, the voca- 
tion, to render the same words of our Lord, one in this, 
another in that other particular connexion and order ; 
one in a more, another in a less fully developed manner; 
one with a copiousness of explanation, another with more 
terseness and compression. But more than this : the 
Evangelists, writing in the meaning and in the spirit of 
their Lord, had the liberty, the right, the vocation, to 
render by words, and to translate, so to speak, in their 
narrative, not only the words pronounced, but also the 
ideas not pronounced — the meaning conveyed by a ges- 
ture, a movement of the countenance, a look. Hence 
many a difference, and hence the solution of those dif- 
ferences. Thus, for example, the peremptory and respect- 
commanding word, Hearkex! which in the Gospel of 
St Mark alone precedes the similitude of the sower, may 
very well have been in his Gospel the expression in 
words of a simple look of authority on the part of our 
Lord in the actual circumstances of the case — of that 
authority with which Jesus always taught, and which is 
spoken of on a former occasion. 

Does any one still ask what certainty we can have of 
the correctness of such personal apprehensions and inter- 
pretations of our Lord's meaning by the Evangelists, he 
may just as well ask what certainty we can have of the 
correctness of any other detail, of any other testimony 



140 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

recorded by each of them from his own separate point of 
view. 

Let it not, however, be forgotten, that we know Jesus 
historically, whether in his words or deeds, no otherwise 
than through his Apostles and Evangelists. But faith, 
the nature of the case, the word itself, and its truth, 
direct us, for all this, to the explicit promise made to the 
witnesses whom the Lord had called : He that heareth 
you, heareth me. 



ST LUKE, 141 



IV. ST LUKE. 



In St Paul's Epistles we find mention made, again and 
again, and in a very marked manner, of the name of the 
person to whom, by common consent, from the very be- 
ginning, our third Gospel has been attributed. In several 
of those greetings which often throw so much light at 
once on the history and on the truths of Christianity, we 
find Luke, the physician, named with affectionate com- 
mendation, among the most faithful fellow-labourers and 
most intimate friends of the much-tried Apostle. Writing 
during his first captivity at Rome to the Church of the 
Colossians, the Apostle speaks of him in these terms (iv. 
14), Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. 
In the epistle written at that period likewise to Philemon, 
he writes of him, among his fellow-labourers and fellow- 
prisoners, as follows (v. 23 and 24) : There salute thee 
Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus ; Marcus, 
Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow-labourers. In the 
last of his epistles (the second to Timothy), we find that, 
in the critical moments of the Apostle's final struggle for 
the faith, amid the many sufferings, privations, and trials 
of that period, Luke, and Luke alone, stands by him : 
At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men 
forsook me (iv. 16). Demas hath forsaken me, having 



142 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

loved this present vjorld, and is departed unto Thessalonica ; 
Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia (ver. 10). To 
his Timothy he writes (ver. 9) : Do thy diligence to come 
shortly unto me; but soon after he says, Only Luke is 
with me. There is yet another circumstance which we 
may infer concerning this faithful brother, from the above 
salutation at the close of the Epistle to the Colossians. 
In the nomenclature that appears there (iv. 10-16) of the 
several fellow-labourers by whom he was then surrounded 
at Eome, the Apostle assigns distinct places to the brethren 
who are of the circumcision, and to those who by their 
national origin did not belong to ancient Israel. Among 
the latter we find Luke, who consequently appears, from 
this passage, to have been a Christian converted from 
among the Gentiles, and in all probability a proselyte, be- 
fore his conversion to Christ. The whole passage runs 
thus : Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and 
Marcus, sister s son to Barnabas [touching whom ye re- 
ceived commandments : if he come unto you, receive him) ; 
and Jesus, which is called Justus, ivho are of the cir- 
cumcision. These only are my fellow-workers unto the 
kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me. 
Epaphras, vjho is one of you, a servant of Christ, &c. 
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you, &c. 

Here, then, we have three particulars with respect to 
St Luke, and these present him to us in a characteristic 
and interesting manner ; to wit, that in point of national 
origin he was a Gentile, that by profession he was a 
physician, and that, moreover, he was a beloved and faith- 
ful fellow-labourer of St Paul's in the ministry of the 
Gospel. Now, it is precisely these three characteristic 
marks that we find in the author of our third Gospel — 
that Gospel of which the Book of the Acts of the Apostles 






ST LUKE. 143 

is universally admitted to be an immediate sequel, written 
by the same hand throughout, in conformity with the 
dedication of that second book to the same Theophilus 
to "whom the Gospel had been inscribed (Acts i. 1, com- 
pared with St Luke's Gospel, i. 1-4, and xxiv. 51). The 
fokmer treatise have I made, Theophilus, of all that 
Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the day in which 
he was taken up, &c. 

Now, in the Book of the Acts, in the first place, the 
author makes himself known most unequivocally, though 
in the most unsought, the most unintentional, and withal, 
the humblest manner, as a servant of the Gospel in the 
strictest connexion with St Paul. It is true he nowhere 
introduces the name Luke ; nowhere records a single 
word spoken, or action done, by himself individually ; but 
concealing himself, as it were, under the plural pronoun 
we, he sufficiently reveals himself to us as an eyewitness 
and participant in a considerable number of the matters 
recorded in that second book. As a fellow-traveller of 
St Paul's we first meet with him, shortly after the second 
sending out of that Apostle, in company with Silas, from 
the mother Church at Antioch (Acts xv. 40, 41, xvi. 1, 
and following verses). Having always spoken before this 
of St Paul and his fellow-labourers in the third person, 
he now begins at once, at an important moment, to include 
himself as one of that wayfaring and God-conducted 
mission (ver. 9, 10) : "And a vision appeared to Paul 
in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and 
prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help 
us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we 
endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering 
that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto 
them. From this time forward we can clearly distinguish, 



144 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

according as he makes use of the first or the third person 
of the pronoun (we or they), the times at which St Luke 
accompanied St Paul, from those at which he was sepa- 
rated from him for a season, to rejoin him afterwards. 
Following this infallible rule, we see him first accompany- 
ing the Apostle to Philippi in Macedonia (xvi. 12-17), 
after which, it would seem, from his disusing the pronoun 
we, employed till then, that he was left in that city to 
continue the instruction of the hardly constituted Church. 
Then, some years afterwards, on the occasion of St Paul's 
passing through that same Philippi on his journey to Asia 
(xx. 1-4), we again find him evidently one of the Apostle's 
immediate circle (ver. 5, 6) : These going before tarried 
for us at Troas. And we sailed avjay from Philippi 
after the days of unleavened bread, and we came unto 
them in Troas. From this period forward (guided always 
by this artless but significant we), we find him accom- 
panying the Apostle on the most perilous of the missions 
that the book records— first to Assos, Mitylene, Samos, 
Trogyllium, and Miletus (xx. 13-38, xxi. 1) ; after that, 
to Coos, Rhodes, Patara, on to Cyprus, from thence to 
Syria and Tyre, to Ptolemais, and finally to Csesarea 
(xxi. 1-8), where St Paul received an intimation from 
the Holy Ghost that bonds and persecutions awaited him 
(verses 8-11). St Luke, although he never introduces 
himself by name, had a part, beyond all doubt, in the 
affecting struggle of faith and charity that arose betwixt 
St Paul and his fellow-travellers (verses 12-14). And 
when we heard these things, both we, and they of that 
vlace, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then 
Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine 
heart f for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to 
die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And 



ST LUKE. 145 

when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The 
ivill of the Lord be done. Our historian then accompanies 
the heroic apostle to Jerusalem (v. 17 and 18) : And 
when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received 
us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us 
unto James ; and all the elders were present. It is true 
that the persecution which shortly after overtook the 
apostle, being of a purely personal nature, did not imme- 
diately affect our author ; but from what he straightway 
records with respect to St Paul's detention at Caesarea 
(xxiv. 23), we may assuredly conclude that St Luke was 
one of those who availed themselves most of the perfect 
liberty granted by Felix to the apostle, to forbid none of 
his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. When 
afterwards, in consequence of his appealing unto Csesar, 
the apostle embarked as a prisoner for Italy, the author 
of the Acts very expressly includes himself in the number 
of those who accompanied him (xxvii. 1), And when it 
was determined that we should sail into Italy, they de- 
livered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named 
Julius, a centurion of Augustus band. Thus, after all 
the hardships described in chapters xxi. to xxvii., they 
arrived together at Rome. This second book of our 
evangelist concludes with the apostle's two years' im- 
prisonment there ; and we then find him, as we have 
seen, mentioned by his name Luke, in the epistles writ- 
ten by St Paul during his first residence at Rome. 
Here accordingly, we have anew, in conformity with the 
ancient and universal traditions to that effect, but at the 
same time quite independent of these traditions, clear 
proof that the author of our third Gospel, and of the book 
of Acts, was a well-beloved fellow-labourer of the apostle 
St Paul, a faithful brother in his bonds and persecu- 

K 



146 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

tions, one who remained to the last at his side. The 
influence of so close a tie on St Luke's writings in gene- 
ral, but especially on his Gospel, will appear hereafter in 
our examination of their details. But let us first contem- 
plate St Luke in another relation mentioned by the 
Apostle, and occurring in the writings of the Evangelist. 
Luke the physician saluteth you. So runs the saluta- 
tion mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians. Now, 
the physician plainly enough reappears in both of the 
writings that have been transmitted to us from the Evan- 
gelist. Thus in our third Gospel, the maladies that are 
mentioned in it are partly described with more detail, 
partly indicated by their proper technical terms. For 
example, the fever of which St Peter's wife's mother was 
cured by the Saviour, is spoken of only by St Luke as a 
strong, a great fever {irvpeTo^ ^eya?), in conformity with 
a scientific distinction still found in Galen. 1 By a like 
technical term he describes the loss, or, properly speak- 
ing, the obscuration of the vision, in the sorcerer Elymas 
(Acts xiii. II). 2 Besides the healing of the blind, the 
paralytic, and the possessed, which he records in common 
with his two predecessors, we read exclusively in his 
Gospel of the woman who was bowed together (Luke 
xiii. 11), of the man afflicted with dropsy (xiv. 2), &c. 
He describes very exactly the illness of which St Paul 
cured Publius at Malta (xxviii. 8), as fever and dysen- 
tery (irvpeTol vol Svaevreplac) . 3 The disease of which 

1 GALENUS cle Diff. Feb. i., (rvvrjdes rj$r) to7s larpots ovop.a£eiv — t6v fxeyav 
re kcu /JLLicpov nvperov. 

2 GALENUS ii. in Protr. ii., cixkvs, dcpdakfxov ndBos — hid twos axkvos 
oiovrai /3Ae7re«>. 

3 Wetstein acl Act., xxviii. 8. Aul. Gellius, viii. 10. " Ibi alvo mild citd 
accedente febre rabidd decubueram. Lucas meclicus morbos accuratius des- 
cribere so-let."" 



ST LUKE. 147 

Herod Agrippa died, mentioned in more general terms 
by Josephus, is more exactly known to us from St Luke's 
account (Acts xii. 23), as an eating by worms (o-fcooXrjfcd- 
/3po)To?, igeyfrvtjev). It likewise deserves notice, that the 
Evangelist physician alone, in the history of the passion, 
mentions the healing by the hand of our Lord of the ear 
of Malchus, when it had been cut off by the disciple 
(Luke xxii. 51). It is he likewise who speaks of the 
sleep of the disciples, during the anguish endured by 
their Master in the garden of Gethsemane, as arising 
from depression of mind (xxii. 45). He alone mentions 
the sleep of those same disciples on the occasion of that 
awful scene, the transfiguration on the Mount (ix. 32). 
The commission given to the twelve on their being sent 
forth, recorded so much more fully by St Matthew (x. 7, 
8), is summed up by St Luke in these few words, to 
preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick 
(ix. 2). The sending forth of the seventy disciples, 
recorded by St Luke alone, comprises in like manner all 
the miraculous gifts in that same command (x. 9), Heal 
the sick, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is 
come nigh unto you. Whereupon soon after (v. 17), the 
disciples that had been sent forth, returned again with joy, 
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through 
thy name. And how much more deeply still, than can be 
made to appear from these detached passages, is the 
stamp of the physician imprinted on St Luke's Gospel ! 
How in his, more than in any other Gospel, does the 
glorious union come out, in the works of Jesus (according 
to the words of the Psalmist), between the forgiving of our 
iniquities and the healing of our diseases! How distinctly 
is our Saviour exhibited to us by him as the great Physi- 
cian of Israel ! All this will be more clearly perceived on 



148 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

our scrutinizing St Luke's Gospel more minutely. Occu- 
pying ourselves for the present, so to speak, with the 
surface only, we would simply remark further, that it is 
St Luke alone who has preserved for us the proverb that 
fell from our Lord's lips, Physician, heal thyself (iv. 23). 
And is it not the physician that speaks to us anew in 
the attitude in which he describes our Lord by the side 
of the sick-bed of Simon's mother-in-law I 

Matth. viii. 15. Mark i. 31. Luke iv. 39. 

And he touched her And he came and And he stood over 

hand, and the fever took her by the hand, her, and rebuked the 

left her. and lifted her up: and fever (Gr. inavco avTtjs)'-, 

immediately the fever and it left her. 
left her. 

St Luke's following the profession of a physician is so 
far connected with his national descent. We have seen 
that he was designated by St Paul as not of the circum- 
cision, consequently as a Gentile by birth. The art of 
medicine was at that time very much in the hands of the 
Greeks, and particularly of slaves and freedmen, a sort of 
people among the Romans of that era that were often found, 
as is well known, highly gifted and civilized. Syria in par- 
ticular was, in those days, highly reputed for the practice of 
medicine. Now, there is an ancient tradition preserved by 
some of the Fathers of the Church, that St Luke was a native 
of Antioch in Syria, at least that he had his usual resi- 
dence there, and had there been gained to Christ, while the 
termination of his name (in a?) was, at all events, common 
to him with many of the slaves and freedmen of that 
time. However that may be, no less manifestly than the 
Roman proselyte reveals himself in St Mark's Gospel, do 
we recognise the Greek proselyte in that of St Luke. 
Both his language and his style as an historian perpetually 
remind us of his Greek origin and education — a point on 



ST LUKE. 149 

which all who are versed in philology and archaeology 
agree. The style of the ancient classical historians meets 
us at once in the introduction and dedication of his Gospel 
(i. 1-4) : Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set 
forth in order a declaration of those things which are most 
surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto 
us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and min- 
isters of the word; it seemed good to me also, having 
had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, 
to ivrite thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that 
thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein 
thou hast been instructed. 

By this preface, so full of instruction to us in several 
respects, first of all it most clearly appears that he him- 
self had in no way been an eyewitness of the doings of 
the Lord Jesus, and therefore could not, as some would 
have it, have been of the number of the seventy disciples 
sent out by him. It will be seen that he distinctly dis- 
connects himself from those who, from the beginning, were 
eyewitnesses and ministers of the ivord ; but, neverthe- 
less, it is an ancient tradition that St Luke, already for 
some time a proselyte to Judaism, and familiar with the 
whole religion and nation of Israel, had through that 
medium, probably at Antioch, been brought into the 
Church of Christ, which tradition we shall see fully con- 
firmed by the nature and contents of his Gospel. 

But setting aside for a few moments the consideration 
of the three chief characteristics which meet us at once 
in St Luke's writings, we proceed to contemplate his Gos- 
pel as viewed from another side. We would direct the 
reader's attention to the peculiar structure of this, the 
third of our Gospels, as respects the course it pursues— 



150 THE FOUB WITNESSES. 

its method and plan, in so far as these distinguish it from 
the Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark, and make it 
harmonize with the Acts of the Apostles. 

If the Gospel of St Matthew suggests to us the idea of 
a perpetual comparing of the person of Jesus Christ with 
the predictions of the prophets ; if we found in Mark the 
mighty deeds of the Lord related in the form of a com- 
pressed but consistent and lively report — we recognise 
in St Luke that one among the four Evangelists who was 
more peculiarly the historian. His Gospel announces 
itself as such from its very introduction. What he pro- 
poses is, first, to set forth in order a declaration (ver. 1), 
{avard^ao-Bai Strjyvcnv). In order to this (ver 3), he had 
examined all things from the very first (avwdev). That he 
is to write to Theophilus in order (/cadeijr}?), so that he 
might know the certainty (dacjxiXeiav, the infallible certainty) 
of those things wherein he had been previously instructed. 
Here w r e find at once two of the main objects of a true 
historian : — 1st, To draw up a continuous narrative, de- 
rived from a careful examination of the testimonies of 
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word (v. 2) ; 2nd, To 
commit it to writing in chronological order. 

The historical narrative itself answers to these two 
objects for which it was written. Our third Gospel does 
not, like that of St Matthew, content itself with a short 
notice of our Lord's conception and birth. It carries 
events further back in their sublime continuity ; it leads 
us to the first beginnings, and, as it were, to the very 
dawn of our Lord's coming in the flesh ; it commences 
with various details relating to the annunciation, the 
conception, and the birth, not only of our Lord himself, 
but also of his forerunner, the Baptist, — (Chap, i.) It 
opens with an expression (i. 5) which subsequently 



ST LUKE. 151 

occurs above sixty times in the two compositions of St 
Luke. There was, or it happened that (Gr. eyevero). 

And in like manner, as St Luke carries his narrative 
much further back than the two evangelists who preceded 
him, so also neither does he conclude it, as they do, with 
the resurrection and ascension of our Lord; but adds a 
second historical book, relating what was done by our 
Lord after he had seated himself at God's right hand 
in the heavens, the fulfilment of the promise of the 
Spirit, the preaching, and the works and signs done by 
the apostles in the name and power of their glorified 
Master. 

A due attention to dates is peculiarly requisite in a 
professed historian. We find accordingly in St Luke, 
from the very commencement, the dates of the great 
things related in his gospel carefully determined (i. 5) : 
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest 
named Zacharias, &c, anon more fully, on the appear- 
ance of the Baptist in his public ministry (iii. 1, 2) : 

NOW in THE FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF TlBERIUS 

CiESAR, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and 
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip 
tetrarch of Iturwa and of the region of Trachonitis, and 
Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas 
being the high priests, the word of God came unto John 
the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 

But he is no less accurate in giving epochs, days, and 
years when he has occasion to speak of private persons. 
In the case of Anna, the prophetess in the temple (ii. 36, 
37), he not only mentions her being about fourscore and 
four years old, but the seven years also during which she 
had lived with her husband in her youth. He repeatedly 
gives the duration also of the diseases, the cures of which 



152 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

were wrought by our Lord or his apostles : the sufferings 
endured for eighteen years by the woman who was bent 
double, in the Gospel (xiii. 11) ; the palsy of which iEneas 
had been ill for eight years, in the Acts (ix. 33) ; the 
forty years' lameness of the man who was cured at the 
gate of the temple by Peter and John (iii. 1, iv. 
22). In the same book of the Acts he carefully puts 
down the years, months, and days that the Apostle St 
Paul had spent at Corinth, at Ephesus, at Csesarea, at 
Rome, and elsewhere (xviii. 2 ; xx. 31 ; xxi. 4 ; xxiv. 1 ; 
xxviii. 30), With respect to our Lord himself, it is St 
Luke alone who speaks of his being circumcised on the 
eighth day (ii. 21) ; of his being brought into the temple 
after the days of the purification were fulfilled (ii. 22, and 
following verses) ; of Jesus, at the age of twelve years, 
sitting in the midst of the doctors in the temple (ii. 42, 
&e.) He is the only evangelist also that informs us of 
Jesus being of the age of thirty years when he received 
the rite of baptism at the hands of John, and from the 
Holy Spirit from heaven (iii. 23). It is from St Luke 
alone that we also learn \fo2X forty days elapsed between 
the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord (Acts 
i. 3). 

None of the evangelists, again, enters so deeply into 
the Jewish history of those times as St Luke does. He 
alone, for example, records our Lord's allusion to the 
massacre of a number of the Galileans by the governor, 
Pontius Pilate, on the occasion of a festival (xiii. 1-3) ; 
likewise (v. 4) the fall of the tower of Siloam, which caused 
the death of eighteen persons. And in the Acts (v. 36, 
37) he makes mention of the two insurrections in those 
stormy days in Israel — the one that of Theudas, and the 
other that of Judas the Galilean. 



ST LUKE. ] 53 

Notices of the family of the Herods occur more fre- 
quently in St Luke's than in any other of the New Testa- 
ment writings. Thus we find him mention not only, as 
St Matthew and St Mark do, the elder Herod, surnamed 
the great, and his son Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch, as 
also his brother Philip, the husband of Herodias : but 
likewise in the book of the Acts, Herod Agrippa (grand- 
son of Herod the great by Aristobulus), better known 
from the writings of Josephus ; and finally, his son and 
daughter, Agrippa and Bernice, persons well known 
otherwise, and chiefly from the figure they make during 
the closing period of the national existence of Judea 
(Acts xii., xxv.) St Luke, too, over and above what the 
other Evangelists say of Herod Antipas in connexion 
with John the Baptist, gives us some details in connexion 
with Jesus himself. He alone records (xiii. 31, 32) that 
there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get 
thee out, and depart hence : for Herod will hill thee ; and 
the answer given by our Lord : Go ye, and tell that fox, 
Behold I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to- 
morrow, and the third day I shall he perfected. In the 
history of the passion none but St Luke mentions our 
Lord's being sent to that same Herod, and how the mur- 
derer of John the Baptist became the reviler of the 
Saviour, although at the same time one of the witnesses 
of his innocence (xxiii. 5-12 ; Acts iv. 27). Further, 
from quite another side, St Luke makes us acquainted 
with the history of the Herod family, by informing us in 
his Gospel (viii. 3), that among the godly women from 
Galilee who ministered unto Jesus of their substance, 
there was Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herods steward; 
and afterwards, in the Acts (xiii. 1), he speaks of 
Manaen, one of the prophets and teachers of the church 



154 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

at Antioch, as having been brought up with Eerod the 
Tetrarch. 

In this and many other ways, while perusing the writ- 
ings of St Luke, we find ourselves transported into the 
domain of general history. Not that the three other 
Gospels (far from it) are not equally pure, genuine, 
authentic histories, but that their narratives are more 
circumscribed within the limits of the Jewish territory 
and nation, of Jewish affairs and Jewish persons ; whereas 
St Luke continually, and in various ways, leads us into 
the history of antiquity, as known to us from other 
quarters, and from profane sources, whether heathen 
or Jewish, such as Josephus and others. This applies 
particularly to the Book of Acts, a book so pre-emi- 
nently remarkable for the light it derives from history 
and antiquities. There, in a most especial manner, 
and from most manifest causes, there is such a complex 
and varied intermingling with the whole, of Jewish, 
Greek, and Roman antiquity ; there, the whole civilized 
world of the Europe and Asia of those days is so often 
touched upon, that, thanks to the accumulated treasures 
of philological, antiquarian, and historical learning which 
we possess in our time, the slightest error, the smallest 
inaccuracy, nay, the most trifling mistake, must neces- 
sarily be brought to light on being subjected to scrutiny. 
Now, what has been the result of the most searching 
scrutiny of the two writings left us by St Luke, sifted 
fact by fact, detail by detail, expression by expression, 
in the light of all that the most civilized and the most 
enlightened antiquity directly witnesses or incidentally 
suggests to our researches ? Why, nothing but an acknow- 
ledgment of the most satisfactory correctness in every 
thing that bears upon philology, history, geography, and 



ST LUKE. 155 

antiquities, that ever was found in the most authentic con- 
temporary historian. Whithersoever the author of the 
book of Acts conducts us, whether in Judea, to Jerusalem, 
or into Galilee ; upon the territory, or into the details of 
the liyes of the Herods and Agrippas ; under the governor- 
ship of Pilate, of Felix, or of Festus ; under the pontifi- 
cate of Caiaphas, or Annas, or Ananias; into the towns 
of Samaria, or amid the hostile feelings that subsisted 
betwixt the inhabitants of that country and the Jewish 
nation ; or to Cesarea, the seat of the court, at one time 
of a Herod, at another time of a Roman governor ; to 
Damascus, under the governor appointed by King Aretas ; 
to Tarsus in Cilicia, to Antioch in Syria, to Antioch in 
Pisidia, to Iconium, to Lystra, to Derbe in Lycaonia, into 
Pamphylia, into Attalia, into Mysia, into Bithynia, to 
Troas, to Ephesus in Asia Minor ; or from thence into 
Europe, to Philippi, the first Roman colonial city in Mace- 
donia, to Athens, and before the Areopagus ; or into that 
Corinth which was once so famous throughout the world, 
and into its maritime port, Cenchrea ; or, afterwards, over 
the waters of the Mediterranean ; or under the large and 
famous island of Crete ; or under the small islet of 
Clauda ; to the Syrtis, to the island of Malta, to Syracuse, 
or finally, over the territory of Italy, to Rhegium and 
Puteoli, thereafter to Appii Forum, and to the Three 
Taverns on the road to Rome, and to Rome itself: 
whether he transports us into all these different places, 
and takes us before kings, governors, and chiefs ; into the 
temple, into the synagogues, into the houses of the great 
or the small, of Jews or of Gentiles ; amid the sanctuaries 
and idolatries of different nations ; into the society of 
military officers and soldiers, ship-captains and sailors ; 
into the market-place, the tribunals, or the prisons ; 



15*6 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

whether to the coasts of a semi-barbarous people, or on 
board the ship whose sign was Castor and Pollux ; 
whether he commits to writing, for our perusal, the dis- 
courses of St Peter or St Paul, of St Stephen the deacon, 
or of St Philip the evangelist, or the speech of the advo- 
cate Tertullus, or a letter from the chief captain, Claudius 
Lysias; whether he brings us into contact with Jewish, 
Greek, Roman, or barbarian manners, with the legislation 
and judicial forms, the military or civil institutions of 
different countries ; — we every where find the utmost sim- 
plicity of style and exposition, conjoined with the utmost 
truthfulness of colouring, and the language that is appro- 
priate to the subject purely and naturally employed — 
every where we find the strictest accuracy in all the 
circumstances, even the most minute and hardly notice- 
able, confirmed and verified by all the light that in our 
days has been poured upon us from the most authentic 
sources of antiquarian lore, with respect to the times, the 
princes, the governments, the nations, the men, in one 
word, with respect to the very things mentioned or described 
in the two books of our Evangelist historian, St Luke. 

Paley, in his excellent work On the Evidences of 
Christianity, has given abundant examples of the man- 
ner, often quite unexpected and surprising, in which the 
testimony of profane historians brings out the truth and 
correctness of the Evangelical writings. But particularly 
as respects St Luke's Gospel, one could here considerably 
enlarge the number by the examples we might adduce of 
discoveries made since Paley's time, after further study 
and comparison of ancient writings and monuments bear- 
ing on this same accuracy in the most minute and least 
obvious details. We shall confine ourselves to a single 
example. We read in the book of the Acts (xix. 28 



ST LUKE. 157 

and 34), that the multitude having risen against St Paul, 
gave vent to their zeal for the worship which was threat- 
ened by his preaching, in the cry : Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians ! Such exclamations in honour of the pagan 
divinities are well known in profane antiquity. Still, 
nowhere had learned men met with a passage in any part 
of the writings of antiquity, proving that this title of 
great goddess had been specially given among the Greeks 
to Diana. Now a Greek manuscript of Xenophon the 
Ephesian, discovered about the middle of the last cen- 
tury, gives us the utmost possible certainty of it by a 
passage where a virgin of Ephesus swears, in so many 
words, by the goddess of her native town, the great Diana 
of the Ephesians. 1 

Such a harmony even in the most minute details of 
language, of institutions, and of customs, could not by any 
imaginable possibility have been an eifect of any human in- 
vention, myth, or embellishment whatever. The designedly 
or undesignedly embellishing or idealizing it, from the 
very nature of the thing, will be found carefully to avoid 
all such explicitness of statement and allusion, with 
respect to individual things and persons, which it might 
safely have omitted to mention at all, or have done so 
much more indefinitely. No one but the historian, the 
faithful and conscientious historian, living himself in 
the midst of the times and scenes he describes, could 
preserve such a perfect fidelity to the truth, the condi- 
tion, the colouring, and all the characteristic peculiarities 
of those times ; whilst, moreover, the style and whole cast 
of the book every where clearly testify, that this accuracy 
has not been the result of effort and studied design. It 
would have been all the more difficult for any but a con- 

1 Valckenaer, Schol. in Act, Apost., xix. 28. 



158 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

temporary to attain it, in proportion as the period of 
which it treats was fertile in great events, in changes in 
the governments, and in the boundaries and names of 
countries and peoples, in such sort that many particulars, 
true at one time, if transposed to a period a few years 
either sooner or later, would be found to be incorrect. 
But from this side, too, our sacred writings, and particu- 
larly those of St Luke, are all the more strongly proof 
against all attack, or even doubt. Of all the apparent 
contradictions, and of all the difficulties that have been 
proposed against some places of his two books, the often 
cited parenthesis respecting the government of Cyrenius, 
in his Gospel (ii. 2), with two or three further difficulties 
of less consequence in the Acts, are the only points which, 
down to the present day, have not yet been perfectly 
cleared up. And for those places, perhaps, the solution 
is more simple than many think. 

Thus, then, in St Luke, we have in a peculiar manner 
the Evangelist historian. But this being the case, it is 
then in his Gospel that we must, from the very com- 
mencement, look for a true solution and correct arrange- 
ment, on every occasion of discrepancy among the Gos- 
pels, with respect to the order of the matters that they 
relate. At the very opening of his book he has an- 
nounced it to be his object to set forth in order; what he 
undertook was to write in order (Gr. /cadets). Already, 
in our examination of St Matthew's Gospel, we have 
seen that it was not in the first of our Gospels, which 
arranges facts rather according to the homogeneity of the 
subjects, but that it was in St Luke's that we might expect 
to find the true order in which events took place. Here 
seems the fittest opportunity for placing in a still clearer 



ST LUKE. 159 

light, by adducing some more detailed examples, this 
characteristic specialty of our third Gospel. 

For the purposes of a comparison in this important 
respect between St Matthew and St Luke, the sermon on 
the Mount, which occupies a prominent place in both, pre- 
sents several particulars to our notice. First of all, let us 
mark the place which that discourse occupies in the series 
of our Lord's sayings and doings. St Matthew places it 
(v. vi. vii.) immediately after the calling of St Peter, 
St Andrew, St James, and St John, and after a yery 
short mention of the miracles and of the preaching of our 
Lord in the synagogues of Galilee (iv. 13-25), but long 
before the naming of the twelve (x. 1-4). In St Luke, 
the sermon on the Mount is placed (vi. 20-40) imme- 
diately after the calling and naming of the twelve, 
(vi. 13-40) — a difference in each case perfectly in 
accordance with the very different construction of their 
whole narratives. St Matthew, whose grand aim it is to 
give a representation of the great Prophet like unto Moses, 
naturally places on the foreground of his Gospel the pro- 
clamation by his Master's mouth of the doctrines and com- 
mandments of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, according 
to St Matthew, opens upon a mountain the preaching of 
the Gospel, as Moses received the law upon the Mount. 
But, historically, the place is of necessity that assigned to 
it by St Luke, in whose Gospel the solemn discourse on 
the mountain was, as the very nature of the case inti- 
mates, delivered in presence of the already constituted 
number of twelve Apostles. 

The sermon on the Mount, in St Matthew's Gospel, as 
we have already said, comprehends not only what was 
actually spoken by the Saviour at that hour and on that 
place, but (in virtue of his apostolic authority and of the 



160 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 



wider scope assigned to him by the Holy Ghost in the 
special purpose his Gospel was designed to subserve), much 
more besides, in the way of sayings and similitudes, really 
and expressly uttered by Jesus, but on other occasions 
or in a different connexion. Thus, among other instruc- 
tions of the sermon on the Mount, St Matthew inserts the 
Lord's Prayer : Our Father which art in heaven, &c. In 
quite a different connexion, yet one that clearly shews 
itself to have been the true historical connexion, we read 
this model praj^er in St Luke. Let the passages them- 
selves be compared, as follows : — 



Luke xi. 1, 2. 
And it came to pass, that, as he was 
praying in a certain place, when he 
ceased, one of his disciples said unto 
him, Lord, teach us to pray, as 
John also taught his disciples. And 
he said unto them, When ye pray, 
say, Our Father which art in 
heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done, as in heaven, so in earth, 
&c. 



Matth. vi. 7, 9. 
But when ye pray, use not vain 
repetitions, as the heathen do : for 
they think that they shall be heard 
for their much speaking. Be not 
ye therefore like unto them : for 
your Father knoweth what things 
ye have need of, before ye ask 
him. After this manner there- 
fore pray ye: Our Father which 
art in heaven, Hallowed be thy 
name, &c. 



Immediately after the Lord's prayer in St Luke (xi. 
5-9) there follows a similitude — that of the friend who 
comes at midnight asking for the loan of three loaves — 
which is nowhere to be found in St Matthew. Of another 
similitude, introduced by St Luke immediately after, we 
find a portion in another part of the sermon on the 
Mount in St Matthew, but not connected with the Lord's 



prayer. 

Luke xi. 10-13. 
For every one that asketh re- 
ceiveth ; and he that seeketh find- 
eth ; and to him that knocketh it 
shall be opened. If a son shall 
ask bread of any of you that is a 
father, will he give him a stone? 



Matthew, vii. 6-11. 
Give not that which is holy unto 
the dogs, neither cast ye your 
pearls before swine, lest they 
trample them under their feet, and 
turn again and rend you. Ask, 
and it shall be given you, &c. For 



ST LUKE. 161 

or if he ask a fish, will he for a every one that asketh receiveth, 

fish give hiin a serpent ? Or if he &c. Or what man is there of you, 

shall ask an egg, will he offer him whom if his son ask bread, will he 

a scorpion ? If ye then, being evil, give him a stone ? Or if he ask a 

know how to give good gifts unto fish, &c. If ye then, being evil, 

your children : how much more know how to give good gifts unto 

shall your heavenly Father give the your children, how much more, &c. 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? 

In the same sermon on the Mount, we read in St Mat- 
thew (vi. 25-34), the exhortations against being careful 
about the things of this life, immediately after the warning 
(24) against serving God and mammon. In St Luke 
we find the same exhortation delivered almost in the same 
terms, but in quite a different connexion and at quite 
another time. The connexion in which St Luke places 
them (xii. 13-31), is too natural to permit of a doubt as 
to its being the true historical one. The circumstances 
speak for themselves. One of the company had come to 
Jesus, asking him that he would speak to his brother that 
he would divide an inheritance with him. Jesus declines 
any pretension of the kind : Man ! who made me a judge 
or a divider over you f He follows this up immediately 
with an exhortation against avarice (ver. 15), which is 
afterwards enforced by the powerful similitude of the 
rich man, of whom his soul was required in the midst of 
his projects of aggrandizement and enjoyment (ver. 
16-21). Whereupon the Saviour turns to his disciples 
and saith unto them, Therefore I say unto you, Take no 
thought for your life, what ye shall eat ; neither for the 
body, what ye shall put on, and what further follows in 
both Evangelists. 

The same thing holds with respect to our Lord's 
invitation to enter in at the strait gate. This we find 
taken by St Matthew, without any definite connexion, 
into the series of the lessons comprised in the sermon on 

L 



162 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the Mount ; it occurs elsewhere in St Luke, but this both 
for reasons supplied by the most striking historical con- 
nexion, and elucidated by that connexion. 

Matth. vii. 12, 13. Luke xiii. 23, 24. 

Therefore all things whatsoever Then said one unto him, Lord, 

ye would that men should do to you, are there few that be saved ? And 

do ye even so to them : for this is he said unto them, Strive to enter 

the law and the prophets. Enter in at the strait gate : for many, I 

ye in at the strait gate : for wide say unto you, will seek to enter 

is the gate, and broad is the way, in, and shall not be able. 
that leadeth to destruction, and 
many there be which go in thereat. 

In like manner, as we saw the commandments and 
exhortations, so did we find the similitudes also collected 
together by St Matthew in several places in the way of 
accumulation^ 

The similitude of the talents, which St Matthew (xxv. 
14-30) places immediately after, and makes, as it were, 
of a piece with that of the wise and foolish virgins, and 
which he connects with our Lord's appearance on the 
great day of judgment as king and judge, the history of 
the passion commencing immediately after — that very 
similitude we find referred in St Luke to a much earlier 
period. On the last journey of Jesus with his disciples 
to Jerusalem, shortly before the solemn procession from 
Bethphage and Bethany, we read it in the following evi- 
dently historical connexion (xix. 11-29) : And as they 
heard these things, he added and spake a parable, be- 
cause HE WAS NIGH TO JEEUSALEM, AND BECAUSE THEY 
THOUGHT THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHOULD IMME- 
DIATELY appeae. He said therefore, A certain nobleman 
went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, 
and to return. And he called his ten servants, and de- 
livered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy 

1 Page 29. 



ST LUKE. 163 

till I come, &c. &c. And when he had thus spoken, he 
went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to 
pass, ivhen he ivas come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, &c. 
It is the same with regard to the similitude of the 
invitation to the marriage feast, which, placed in a more in- 
definite connexion by St Matthew, we find recurring in St 
Luke at a much later period, but evidently in its really 
historical connexion, in the following manner : — 

Matth. xxii. 1-4. Luke xiv. 1-17. 

And Jesus answered and spake And it came to pass, as he went 

unto them again by parables, and into the house of one of the chief 

said, The kingdom of heaven is like Pharisees to eat bread on the Sab- 

unto a certain king, which made a bath-day, that they watched him, &c. 

marriage for his son. And sent forth And when one of them that sat at 

his servants to call them that were meat with him heard these things, 

bidden to the wedding : and they he said unto him, Blessed is he 

would not come. Again, he sent that shall eat bread in the kingdom 

forth other servants, saying, Tell of God. But he said to them, A 

them which are bidden, Behold, I certain man made a great supper, 

have prepared my dinner: come and bade many: and sent his ser- 

unto the marriage. vant at supper time to say to them 

that were bidden, Come : for all 
things are now ready. 

The similitude of the grain of mustard-seed and that 
of the leaven that was hid in three measures of meal, are, 
in like manner, again included by St Matthew in the 
general series (chap, xiii.) ; while in St Luke we find 
them in a more definite and every way characteristic con- 
nexion. When the Pharisees were indignant, and the 
multitudes rejoiced at the cure of the woman who was 
bowed together, and for all the glorious things that were 
done by him (xiii. 10-17), he lays hold of the fact of 
that resistance on the part of the great, and that affection 
on the part of the small, as an opportunity for introdu- 
cing the similitude (verses 18-21): Then said he, Unto 
what is the kingdom of God like f and whereitnto shall 



164 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

/ resemble it f It is like a grain of mustard-seed, &c. It 
is like leaven, &c. 

We might here adduce many more examples of the 
doings and sayings of Jesus, recorded by St Matthew in 
the connexion suggested by their homogeneity, and which 
is peculiar to him, but which are, on the contrary, trans- 
posed and re-arranged by St Luke according to the requi- 
sitions of the historical connexion. We shall adduce 
only two additional instances. The tvoes which our 
Saviour is recorded to have pronounced upon the Pharisees 
and Scribes, and on their manifold acts of wickedness 
(xxiii. 13-30), are conjoined in St Matthew with a 
warning addressed to the multitude and his disciples 
against the Scribes and Pharisees that sat in Moses' seat 
(xxiii. 1-12). St Luke, at the same stage in his gospel 
(xx. 45-47), gives the warning indeed, but not the woes. 
The reason is that he had previously recorded these, 
and again, evidently in the true historical connexion, on a 
very marked and peculiar occasion (xi. 37-53). Hav- 
ing been invited by a certain Pharisee to dine with him, 
he had seated himself at the table, when the Pharisee 
marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. 
This very remark gave our Lord an opportunity of cor- 
recting the hypocrisy of those doctors (ver. 39-41). 
This he follows up with the fearful denunciations uttered 
against the Scribes and Pharisees (ver. 42-44), which he 
afterwards extends to the lawyers {vo^acol) (ver. 46), in 
reply to the observation made by one of them (ver. 45) : 
Master, thus saying, thou reproaehest us also. 

The signs that were to accompany the last times are 
enumerated in a discourse of Jesus, very fully recorded 
by the three first Evangelists, in connexion with the fore- 
telling of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. But 



ST LUKE. 165 

we find several details brought together by St Matthew, 
which St Mark passes over in silence, and which St Luke 
mentions at a much earlier period, and upon quite a 
different occasion. Compare Matthew xxiv. 26-28, and 
37-51, with Luke xvii. 20-37. Here again the key is to 
be foimd in the historical order preferred by St Luke, 
while St Matthew arranges his materials chiefly by the 
rule of homogeneity. Accordingly we read in St Luke, 
in express terms, the circumstances that led to that part 
of the predictions concerning the kingdom of God and 
our Lord's second advent (ver. 20-23). And when he 
was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God 
should come, he ansiuered them and said, The kingdom of 
God cometh not with observation : Neither shall they say, 
Lo here! or, Lo there f for, behold, the kingdom of God is 
within you. And he said unto the disciples, The days 
will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of 
the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. And they shall 
say to you, See here ; or, See there : go not after them, nor 
follow them. 

Exceptions to the rule of St Luke's always giving the 
preference to the historical order, there may sometimes 
appear to be, and even in some cases there actually are, 
when a special reason for it occurs. We shall, erelong, 
meet with an example of this last being the case. When, 
however, he mentions for instance, in his Gospel (iii. 
18-21), the imprisonment of St John the Baptist, be- 
tween his preaching and the baptism of our Lord in the 
Jordan, this anticipation of a subsequent part of the 
history may appear to be a departure from the rule of 
strictly following the order of time ; but if we reflect a 
little, we shall readily perceive the reason for this appa- 
rent exception. Even those historians that are most 



166 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

exact in point of chronology, occasionally anticipate the 
events they have to relate, on account of some intimate 
connexion between two incidents or facts, the date of 
which otherwise sufficiently explains itself. Such mani- 
festly is the case with respect to the facts recorded at 
verses 1 8 and 1 9 of the passage referred to. 

But enough has been said here about the historical 
character of St Luke and his writings. We now return 
to those distinguishing features of his Gospel with which 
our review of it commenced, and which we now proceed 
to trace out more minutely in details of a less obvious 
description. Already have we found in our third Gospel 
the most convincing indications of the author's having 
been a bosom friend of St Paul's, a believer of Gentile 
origin, and a physician. We shall now see the marks of 
these three different attributes, every where interwoven, 
so to speak, with all that he writes, and his whole Gospel 
moulded in composition, tendency, spirit, and materials, 
by this threefold relationship discovered at first in its 
author. 

Behold then, in St Luke, the bosom friend, the fellow 
labourer, and the travelling companion of St Paul ! It is 
impossible but that this should have had a marked influ- 
ence on the whole of the preparation and moulding of his 
character, as the author of one of the Gospels — an influ- 
ence more or less of the same sort with that of St Peter 
on the work of Mark, yet with some not quite unimpor- 
tant difference nevertheless. St Mark received his infor- 
mation in a great measure from the personal communica- 
tions of a principal eyewitness, the first among the 
twelve original Apostles. St Luke was the fellow- 
labourer of an apostle, but one who was called at a sub- 



ST LUKE. 167 

sequent period to exercise that high function, and who 
was just as little as St Luke himself an eyewitness from 
the beginning of all that Jesus began to do and to teach. 
Therefore it is, that in the very opening of his work he 
speaks of more than one source of information (i. 1, 2) : 
Even as they delivered them unto us, which fkom the 

BEGINNING WERE EYEWITNESSES, AND MINISTERS OF THE 
WORD. 

It may well be conjectured, a priori, that the influence 
of an apostle like St Paul, though nowise exclusive, must 
have been very considerable, on the work of his faithful 
fellow-labourer, St Luke ; and, in particular, we may 
naturally look for a kindred spirit and tendency in their 
writings. This we find to be actually the case. The 
Epistles of St Paul, and the two books left to us by 
St Luke, when placed together, are often found the 
readiest helps for mutually explaining, elucidating, and 
confirming each other. We meet with, or recognise in 
both, the same fundamental ideas, the same points of 
view, the same representations of the highest doctrines of 
the Gospel. And so much is this the case, that from the 
most remote times the Gospel of St Luke has been 
thought a Pauline Gospel ; and that, following out this 
idea, the Marcionites (the adherents of a false doctrine, 
who owned no authority except that of St Paul, under- 
stood in their own way) admitted none of the Gospels 
but that of St Luke exclusively. 

We have a striking view of the close relationship be- 
tween these two sacred writers, in the manner, for in- 
stance, in which the institution of the Lord's Supper is 
recorded by St Paul in the First Epistle to the Corin- 
thians, and by St Luke in his Gospel. Let us compare 



168 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



both these places with what St Matthew and St Mark 
have left us on the same subject. 



Matth. xxvi. 26-28. 
And as they were eating, Jesus 
took bread, and blessed it, and 
brake it, and gave it to the dis- 
ciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is 
my body. And he took the cup, 
and gave thanks, and gave it to 
them, saying, Drink ye all of it ; 

for THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW 

testament, which is shed for many 
for the remission of sins. 

Luke xxii. 19, 20. 

And he took bread, and gave 

thanks, and brake it, and gave 

unto them, saying, This is my 

body, which is given for you : this 

DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME, (Gl\ 

avdjxvr}(TLV, to make be thought of.) 
Likewise also the cup after supper, 
saying, This cup is the new tes- 
tament in my blood, which is shed 
for you. 



Mark xiv. 22-24. 
And as they did eat, Jesus took 
bread, and blessed, and brake it, 
and gave to them, and said, Take, 
eat : this is my body. And he 
took the cup, and when he had 
given thanks, he gave it to them : 
and they all drank of it. And he 
said unto them, This is my blood 

OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, which is 

shed for many. 

1 Cor. xi. 23-25. 
For I have received of the Lord 
that which also I delivered unto 
you, That the Lord Jesus the 
same night in which he was be- 
trayed took bread: And when he 
had given thanks, he brake it, and 
said, Take, eat : this is my body, 
which is broken for you : this do 
in remembrance of me. After the 
same manner also he took the cup, 

WHEN HE HAD SUPPED, SAYING, THIS 
CUP IS THE NEW TESTAMENT IN MY 

blood : this do ye, as oft as ye 
drink it, in remembrance of me. 



What we have remarked will here be seen at a glance. 
St Paul and St Luke, while they differ from St Matthew, 
whom St Mark almost follows to the letter, record the 
institution of the Supper in almost literally the same 
terms. It is by them only that the object for which the 
Holy Supper was destined, is expressed in this command- 
ment, Do this in remembrance of me — words whose 
meaning is elucidated by St Paul in the verse that 
follows (ver. 26). In both alike we find the circum- 
stance which bears so much on the history of the institu- 



ST LUKE. 169 

tion, that the cup was blessed and drunk after supper. 
In both alike the words of St Matthew and St Mark, 
This is my blood, receive that most important explanation, 
This cup is the new testament in my blood. 

It is further remarkable, for elucidating the close 
connexion between the Epistles of St Paul and the Gos- 
pel of St Luke, that the appearance of our Saviour after 
his resurrection, to which St Paul appeals in the same 
Epistle to the Corinthians, we again find recorded by 
St Luke, and St Luke alone. 

1 Cor. xv. 5. Luke xxiv. 34. 

And that he was seen of Cephas, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, 
then of the twelve. and hath appeared to Simon. 

But not only does this close relationship appear from 
single instances of actions being recorded, or persons 
mentioned by both, it still more clearly appears from a 
principle pervading both, from a tendency common to 
both. Thus, if what we are chiefly taught in St Paul's 
Epistles be the forgiveness of sins, that grand foundation 
of the whole Gospel in its most profound acceptation, as 
righteousness by faith before God; the same idea, the 
same doctrine, so that in its amplest development and 
fullest expression it may emphatically be called the 
Gospel of Paul, 1 we find recalled to our notice in more 
than one similitude or narrative in St Luke. It is clear 
that the gist of the parable of the Prodigal Son, which 
we find in St Luke's Gospel alone (xv. 11-32), lies in 
its opposing (precisely as in St Paul's Epistles) man's 
own righteousness to the righteousness bestowed, which is 
the forgiveness of sin and the adoption by grace — the 
self-righteousness of the Pharisees being represented by 
the elder son, the poor sinner by the prodigal child. 

1 Rom. ii. 16, xvi. 25 ; 2 Tim. ii. 8. 



170 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

The same antithesis we again meet with in a simili- 
tude or narrative of our Lord's, recorded by St Luke 
alone — that of the Pharisee and the publican (xviii. 
9-14) : And he spake this parable unto certain which 

TKUSTED IN THEMSELVES THAT THEY WERE RIGHTEOUS, 

and despised others : Tivo men went up into the temple 
to pray ; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I 
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, 
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice 
in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the 
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as 
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, 
God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man 
went doivn to his house justified rather than the other : 
for every one that exalt eth himself shall be abased: and 
he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 

Finally, under this head we may rank that most 
affecting of incidents, recorded by St Luke alone, of the 
woman that was a sinner, at the feet of Jesus in the 
house of the Pharisee. In order to give stronger relief 
to the doctrine involved in this narrative, let us put it in 
juxtaposition with a similitude which St Matthew, in his 
turn, alone records. The fundamental idea in both is 
the gratuitous forgiveness of sins ; but the characteristic 
difference in what further is intended to be taught de- 
serves to be noticed. 

Matth. xviii. 23-35. Luke vii. 36-50. 
Jesus saith, Therefore is the And one of the Pharisees de- 
kingdom of heaven likened unto a sired him that he would eat with 
certain king, which would take ac- him. And he went into the Pha- 
count of his servants. And when risee's house, and sat down to 
he had begun to reckon, one was meat. And, behold, a woman in 
brought unto him, which owed him the city, which was a sinner, when 
ten thousand talents. But foras- she knew that Jesus sat at meat 



ST LUKE. 



171 



much as he had not to pay, his 
lord commanded him to be sold, 
and his wife, and children, and all 
that he had, and payment to be 
made. The servant therefore fell 
down, and worshipped him, saying, 
Lord, have patience with me, and 
I will pay thee all. Then the lord 
of that servant was moved with 
compassion, and loosed him, and 
forgave him the debt. But the 
same servant went out, and found 
one of his fellow-servants, which 
owed him an hundred pence : and 
he laid hands on him, and took 
him by the throat, saying, Pay me 
that thou owest. And his fellow- 
servant fell down at his feet, and 
besought him, saying, Have pa- 
tience with me, and I will pay thee 
all. And he would not : but went 
and cast him into prison, till he 
should pay the debt. So when his 
fellow-servants saw what was done, 
they were very sorry, and came 
and told unto their lord all that 
was done. Then his lord, after 
that he had called him, said unto 
him, thou wicked servant, I for- 
gave thee all that debt, because 
thou desiredst me : Shouldest not 
thou also have had compassion on 
thy fellow- servant, eveu as I had 
pity on thee? And his lord was 
wroth, and delivered him to the 
tormentors, till he should pay all 
that was due unto him. So like- 
wise shall my heavenly Father do 
also unto you, if ye from your 
hearts forgive not every one his 
brother their trespasses. 



in the Pharisee's house, brought an 
alabaster box of ointment, and 
stood at his feet behind him weep- 
ing, and began to wash his feet 
with tears, and did wipe them 
with the hairs of her head, and 
kissed his feet, and anointed them 
with the ointment. Now when 
the Pharisee which had bidden him 
saw it, he spake within himself, 
saying, This man, if he were a pro- 
phet, would have known who and 
what manner of woman this is that 
toucheth him : for she is a sinner. 
And Jesus answering said unto 
him, Simon, I have somewhat to 
say unto thee. And he saith, 
Master, say on. There was a cer- 
tain creditor which had two debt- 
ors : the one owed Jive hundred 
pence, and the other fifty. And 
when they had nothing to pay, he 
frankly forgave them both. Tell 
me therefore, which of them will 
love him most? Simon answered 
and said, I suppose that he, to 
whom he forgave most. And he 
said unto him, Thou hast rightly 
judged. And he turned to the 
woman, and said unto Simon, Seest 
thou this woman ? I entered into 
thine house, thou gavest me no 
water for my feet : but she hath 
washed my feet with tears, and 
wiped them with the hairs of her 
head. Thou gavest me no kiss : 
but this woman, since the time I 
came in, hath not ceased to kiss 
my feet. My head with oil thou 
didst not anoint : but this woman 
hath anointed my feet with oint- 
ment. Wherefore I say unto thee, 
Her sins, which are many, are for- 
given ; for she loved much : but to 
whom little is forgiven, the same 
loveth little. And he said unto 
her, Thy sins are forgiven. And 



172 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

they that sat at meat with him 
began to say within themselves : 
who is this that forgiveth sins 
also ? And he said to the woman, 
Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in 
peace. 

The reader will here see what it is that, in general, 
these two narratives have in common with each other — 
the capital point of the forgiveness of sins. Yet the 
several doctrines which are further connected with that 
capital point in these two different Evangelists, unequi- 
vocablj harmonize with all that characteristically distin- 
guishes them otherwise. The similitude in St Matthew 
exalts our Lord as king and judge : the narrative in St 
Luke as the searcher of men's hearts. The similitude in 
St Matthew points to the amount of the debt remitted, 
together with the immensity of the sum which rendered 
payment impossible (ten thousand talents), contrasted 
with the very small amount of the debt which the ser- 
vant himself had to remit to his fellow-servant ; the nar- 
rative in St Luke points to the readiness of the creditor 
to acquit both debts, the greater and the less, the five 
hundred and the fifty pence. In the similitude related 
by St Matthew, the two servants are placed over and 
against each other without any decided characteristic 
difference betwixt them ; in St Luke, on the contrary, we 
again find a sinner contrasted with a Pharisee. The 
similitude in St Matthew represents to us a practical 
example of the Christian's prayer, Forgive us our tres- 
passes, as we forgive them that trespass against us ; the 
narrative in St Luke might, so to speak, have for its title 
that saying of St Paul, that in Jesus Christ nothing is 
of any avail, but faith which worJceth by love (Gal. v. 6). 
It is, further, one of the peculiar characteristics of St 



ST LUKE. 173 

Paul, that the development of evangelical truth ever and 
anon resolves itself — ever and anon, so to speak, refreshes 
itself in the ascription of glory and honour to God. Thus 
not only does the conclusion of the Epistle to the Romans 
run into an ascription of praise (xvi. 27), To God only 
wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever, Amen; but 
different divisions or paragraphs of that same Epistle are 
wound up with thanksgivings to God, or with the giving 
of glory to God, as (vii. 25), I thank God through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, and (xi. 36), For of him, and through 
him, and to him, are all things. Nay, in the very midst 
of a line of argument, according as the nature of his 
subject or the occasion may suggest, we often meet with 
such ascriptions of praise, as (i. 25), who worshipped 
and served the creature more than the Creator, who is 
blessed for ever. Amen ; and (ix. 5), of whom as 
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God 
blessed for ever, Amen. In St Paul's doctrine and 
Epistles, the end and the crown of all throughout is the 
glorifying of God. For all the promises of God in him 
are yea, and in him Amen, uxto the glory of God by 
us, (2 Cor. i. 20), and (iv. 15). For all things are for 
your sokes, that the abundant grace might through the 
thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God; and 
(viii. 19), this grace, which is administered by us to the 
glory of the same Lord, &c. ; as in Gal. i. 5. 24, Eph. 
i. 21, 1 Tim. i. 17, 2 Tim. iv. 18, Heb. xiii. 21. Now, 
in casting our eyes over the four Gospels, we find that 
this meets us again in a strikingly characteristic manner, 
particularly, in that of St Luke. His two predecessors 
speak in passing of the glorification of God by the multi- 
tude when they saw the works of Jesus (Matth. ix. 18, 
xv. 31 ; Mark ii. 12) ; but it is only St Luke who super- 



1 74 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

abounds in the express mention of that glorification. 
Thus not only in relating the birth of Jesus (ii. 20), the 
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for 
all the things that they had heard and seen ; and in the 
account of the cure of the paralytic, who was let down 
from the roof (v. 25, 26), And immediately he rose up 
before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and de- 
parted to his own house, glorifying God. And they 
were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were 
filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things 
to-day; but also on the occasion of the resurrection of 
the young man of Nain (vii. 16), There came a fear on 
all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet 
has risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his 
people; and on the occasion of the cure of the woman 
who was bowed together (xiii. 13), And he laid his 
hands on her : and immediately she was made straight, 
and glorified God. Afterwards at the healing of the 
two lepers (xvii. 15), And one of them, when he saw 
that he was healed, turned bach, and with a loud voice 
glorified God ; and when the eyes of the blind man at 
Jericho were opened (xviii. 43), And immediately he 
received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God ; 
and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto 
God ; and finally, when Jesus, on the cross, cried with a 
loud yoice, and gave up the ghost (xxiii. 47), And when 
the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, 
saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 

A like harmony between St Paul and our Evangelist 
discovers itself in the point also of the rejoicing of faith. 
We find the Apostle ever and anon repeating the exhor- 
tation : Rejoice in the Lord alway ; and again I say 
unto you, rejoice (Phil. iv. 4), and afterwards throughout 



ST LUKE. 175 

the whole of this Epistle, and several times elsewhere. 
The words joy, rejoice, be glad, are in none of the 
Gospels found so frequently employed as by St Luke, 
both in his Gospel and in the book of the Acts. 
The birth of St John the Baptist was to give joy and 
gladness to his father and to many (i. 14). The babe, 
St John, leapt for joy in his mother's womb (yer. 41, 44). 
Mary's spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour (yer. 47). 
Good tidings of great joy w ere brought by the angel to 
the shepherds of Bethlehem (ii. 10). There shall be joy 
in heaven over one sinner that repenteth (xy. 7). For 
joy (xxiy. 41), the disciples believed not their own eyes 
when Jesus appeared in the midst of them after his 
resurrection ; and after his ascension (xxiy. 52), they 
returned to Jerusalem with great joy. The book of Acts 
likewise makes mention of this joy among the disciples 
and believers in different circumstances, whether of pro- 
sperity or of persecution. 1 TTe are far from finding so 
frequent a recurrence of the word in St Matthew, and in 
St Mark it hardly occurs at all. With the latter every 
thing of the kind is comprised in his favourite expression 
of the good news. 2 

The intimate tie between the Apostle and his faithful 
companion, unequivocally shews itself even in the peculi- 
arities of style and language. A remarkable effect of this 
resemblance is found in the conjecture of Grotius, who 
attributes to St Luke the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. 
But this only by the way. 

One more highly characteristic peculiarity, however, of 
the Apostle St Paul's, and not without its echo in St 
Luke, remains yet to be mentioned, and demands a 

1 ii. 26, 45, v. 41, viii. 8, 39, xii. 14, xiii. 52, xv. 3, xvi. 34, xx. 4, &c. 

2 P. 74. 



1 76 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

moment's observation — a peculiarity all the more impor- 
tant, as it is deeply seated in the soul as well as in the 
doctrine of the two sacred writers. We refer to St Paul's 
well-known predilection for the number three, which re- 
peatedly bears even upon the construction of his sen- 
tences, and forces itself on our notice in his constantly 
tracing back all doctrine to the most Holy Trinity of 
God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost i 1 and in the prac- 
tice of the Christian life, to the trinity of faith, hope, and 
charity. 2 St Luke, too, has a liking for this number. If 
he any where deviates from the strict historical sequence 
of events, it is perhaps because here and there he would 
give a triplet of examples of some one or other important 
action or cherished doctrine. Thus, for instance, in the 
similitudes intended to animate to believing prayer, he 
adds a third to the two adduced by St Matthew : — 

Matth. vii. 9, 10. Luke xi. 11, 12. 

Or what man is there of you, If a sou shall ask bread of any 
whom if his son ask bread, will of you that is a father, will he give 
he give him a stone ? Or if he ask him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, 
a fish, will he give him a serpent ? will he for a fish give him a ser- 
pent ? or if he shall ash an egg, 



will he offer him a scorpion 



After the similitude of the lost sheep, to which, in St 
Matthew (xviii. 12-14), the wandering sinner restored to 
favour is compared, we read in St Luke (xv.) two others 
to the like effect, though with striking additional embel- 
lishments, — the lost piece of silver, and the prodigal son. 

To the two examples recorded by St Matthew, of what 
is required in order to our following Jesus every where 
and unconditionally, St Luke adds a third : — 

1 Rom. i. 1-4, v. 1-5, viii. 9, 15, xvi. 30; 1 Cor. ii. 10-16, xii. 3-6; 
2 Cor. xiii. 13 ; Eph. iv. 4-6, &c. 

2 1 Cor. xiii. 13 ; Rom. v. 2-5 ; 1 Thess. i. 3 ; Heb. vi. 10-12, &c. 



ST LUKE. 



177 



Matth. viii. 19-22. 
And a certain scribe came, and 
said unto hhn, Master, I will follow 
thee whithersoever thou goest. And 
Jesus saith unto him, The foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the 
air have nests ; but the Son of 
man hath not where to lay his 
head. And another of his disciples 
said unto him, Lord, suffer me first 
to go and bury my father. But 
Jesus said unto him, Follow me ; 
and let the dead bury their dead. 



Luke ix. 57-62. 
And it came to pass, that, as 
they went in the way, a certain 
man said unto him, Lord, I will 
follow thee whithersoever thou 
goest. And Jesus said unto him, 
Foxes have holes, and birds of the 
ah- have nests ; but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head. 
And he said unto another, Follow 
me. But he said, Lord, suffer me 
first to go and bury my father. 
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead 
bury their dead : but go thou and 
preach the kingdom of God. And 
another also said, Lord, I ic ill fol- 
low thee; but let me first go bid them 
farewell, which are at home at my 
house. And Jesus said unto him, 
Xo man, having jjut his hand to the 
plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God. 



In like manner, at the place where, in St Matthew, the 
Lord gives two examples of the difference that the great 
day of his coming would make in the condition of per- 
sons most resembling each other externally, St Luke 
anew adds a third. 



Matth. xxiv. 40, 41. 
Then shall two be in the field; 
the one shall be taken, and the 
other left. Two women shall be 
grinding at the mill ; the one shall 
be taken, and the other left. 



Luke xvii. 34-36. 
I tell you, in that night there shall 
be two men in one bed; the one shall 
be taken, and the other shall be left. 
Two women shall be grinding to- 
gether ; the one shall be taken, 
and the other left. Two men shall 
be in the field; the one shall be 
taken, and the other left. 



The kindred feelings that united the souls of St Paul 
and his beloved companion in labour, are thus made 
clear to us from more than one leading feature — more 
than one deep-seated harmony subsisting between their 
But it is not only with respect to St Paul, 

M 



writings 



178 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

but with respect also to the brethren of the Church 
of Christ in general, that the pleasing title of beloved 
may be applied to St Luke with special propriety. It is 
long since the Fathers of the Church and expositors have 
been of opinion, that that faithful friend, that dutiful ser- 
vant of the Gospel and physician, St Luke, was the very 
person sent by St Paul, along with Titus, to superintend 
the collection for the poor, with this remarkable recom- 
mendation (2 Cor. viii. 18), the brother whose praise is 
in the gospel throughout all the churches. Is it a far- 
sought idea, if with this characteristic warmth of heart, 
and amiability, and high estimation in all places, we 
connect the observation, that nowhere in the Gospels 
does the word friend (</Ao9) occur so frequently as in 
that of St Luke \ 1 It happens more than once among 
those writers, that a single often-repeated or favourite 
word from their pen, betrays as it were the deepest thoughts 
and affections of their hearts. Be that as it may, the 
whole tenor of his two compositions makes us acquainted 
with St Luke as a man who must necessarily have main- 
tained intercourse, and lived on terms of friendly inti- 
macy, with a great many believers of all ages and condi- 
tions. This was just what enabled him to collect such a 
number of details as are contained in his Gospel, respect- 
ing what happened, previous to and at the time of the 
Lord's nativity, at Nazareth, at Bethlehem, at Jerusalem, 
as harbingers of and preparations for the grand advent of 
salvation in Israel. They vme (he says in his introduc- 
tion) delivered unto him, by those which from the begin- 
ning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word. 

St Luke, we have already remarked in general terms, 

1 Luke vii. 6, xi. 5-8, xiv. 10, 12, xv. 6, 9, 29, xvi. 9, xxi. 16, xxiii. 12, &e. 



ST LUKE. 179 

was a Gentile by birth. It is, however, more than pro- 
bable, that he did not pass immediately from paganism 
to the Christian faith, but that, as most commentators 
for a long time have thought, he had been for some time 
before a Jewish proselyte, and in this way came after- 
wards to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. His 
Gospel accordingly bears internal marks of this peculi- 
arity. He shews a familiar acquaintance with the coun- 
try, the manners, the law, and the institutions of Israel ; 
but this is combined with such an affection for the people 
of Israel, as is strikingly brought before us in the words 
of St Paul, where he reminds the Gentile converts (Rom. 
ix. 4, 5), that to the Israelites pertain the adoption, and 
the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, 
and the service of God, and the promises, and the fathers ; 
and when even with respect to their state of unbelief and 
obstinacy for a time, he thus exhorts the Gentiles who 
had believed : Boast not against the branches. But if thou 
boast, thou bear est not the root, but the root thee. As con- 
cerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sokes : but 
as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' 
sokes (Rom. xi. 18, 28). He loves the Lord's ancient 
people with the love of the centurion in his own Gospel 
(vii. 5), a love flowing not from oneness of origin accord- 
ing to the flesh, but from a sentiment of gratitude to- 
wards Israel, because of his being grafted by grace into 
their olive-tree. His Gospel bears the marks of this feeling 
throughout. If on any occasion Jesus gave the name of 
a son or daughter of Abraham to a believing man or 
woman whom he had benefited, from the stock of Israel, 
we find that St Luke, and he alone, has recorded it. 
Thus we read in him only of the conversion of Zaccheus, 
intimated by the Saviour in these words (xix. 9), This 



180 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he 
also is a son oe Abraham ; and of the cure of the woman 
who was bowed together, who was defended against the 
hypocritical ruler of the synagogue by these words ad- 
dressed to him by our Lord (xiii. 16), Ought not this 
woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan 
hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this 
bond on the sabbath-day f 

It has been remarked, that it is with an ardently 
heartfelt interest that St Luke runs into that multiplicity 
of details with respect to the law of Moses and the na- 
tional constitution of Israel in general, in which, from 
the nature of his plan, the commencement of his Gospel 
particularly abounds. He willingly admits into his share 
of the compilation of the Gospels, the news announced by 
the angel with respect to the Baptist (i. 16), And many 
of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their 
God ; as well as the exclamation afterwards of Zacharias 
(v. 68), Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; the annun- 
ciation to Mary of the kingdom of Jesus (v. 32, 33), The 
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father 
Dayid : and he shall reign oyer the house of Jacob for 
ever. It is with an expression of respect full of unction, 
that he places before us the exercise of the priest's office 
in the temple, and the prayers of the whole multitude of 
people during the time of incense (v. 8-10). Further, it 
is his pen alone that records for us how, on the eighth 
day, the law of circumcision, and after the days of purifi- 
cation were over, that of the presentation in the Temple, 
w T ere fulfilled with regard to the infant Jesus, and that 
too by an exact repetition of the very words of that 
institution by Moses (ii. 22-24), And when the days of 
her purification according to the law of Moses ivere 



ST LUKE. 181 

accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present 
him to the Lord; (as it is written in the law of the Lord, 
Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to 
the Lord) ; and to offer a sacrifice, according to that 
which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle- 
doves, or tvjo young pigeons. 

None of the other Evangelists conducts us, as St Luke 
(that proselyte from among the Gentiles) does, as if into 
the midst of the ancient and truly Israelitish hopes which 
in those days were still kept alive in the heart of a 
Simeon, of an Anna, and others (ii. 25, 28). In fine, 
none presents to us Jerusalem as the centre, from which 
the word of salvation went forth for all nations, so often 
as he does in his Gospel (xxiv. 47), and afterwards in the 
Book of Acts, in several instances. 

But if St Luke, in harmony with the Apostle Paul 
(Rom. iii. 1, 2, and elsewhere), recognises the prior claims 
of the Jews, all the more because he himself does not 
belong by birth to the elect people, his Gospel neverthe- 
less nowise spares on that account either their prejudices 
or their sins, their self-righteousness or their national 
pride. The woes (Gr. oval) pronounced in St Matthew 
on the perverseness of the Pharisees, and which are not 
to be found in St Mark, 1 re-occur in St Luke, as we have 
said already, in all their details. 2 His Gospel, quite as 
much as St Matthew's, 3 testifies against the utter vanity 
of trusting to mere descent from Abraham according to 
the flesh. He prefers, however (with the delicacy becom- 
ing a Christian of Greek or Syrian descent), confounding 
the infidelity and obstinacy of Israel by the example of 
one or other Samaritan, rather than by that of a Roman, 

1 P. 84. 2 P. 164. 

3 Mattli. iii. 9 ; Luke iii. 8 ; Matth. viii. 10 ; Luke vii. 9. 



182 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

or especially a Greek. We find, also, the Samaritans pre- 
sented to us under a rather favourable aspect by St Luke, 
as we shall see hereafter. 

With respect to Jerusalem, how deeply soever the 
ancient mother city lay at his heart, least of all does he 
forget to record the judgment pronounced upon her. We 
find it, on the contrary, repeatedly occurring ; yet no- 
where in so touching a tone of sadness and tenderness as 
with him. Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! how often would I 
have gathered thy children, &c, we read in St Luke just 
as we do in St Matthew; 1 yet in the former alone we 
have also another very striking saying of the Saviour to 
the guilty city, which yet was too much loved to be dis- 
owned for ever. It was uttered on his entering it on the 
ass's colt ; the Pharisees being sore displeased. In St 
Matthew we are reminded of those words of Scripture : 
Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast 
ordained praise (xxi. 15,1 6). But St Luke preserves 
for us what follows (xix. 40-44) : And he answered and 
said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their 
peace, the very stones would cry out. And when he was 
come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, 
If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things 
that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine 
eyes. For the days ivill come upon thee, that thine 
enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee 
round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee 

1 With each of them, however, as before, in a different place and connexion. 
In St Matthew, to wit, at the close of the woes pronounced upon the Pharisees 
fxxiii.) ; in St Luke, evidently according to the chronological order, as suggested 
by the message sent to Herod (xiii. 33), it cannot be that aprophet perish out 
of Jerusalem. On this there immediately follows (v. 34, 35), the exclamation, 
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them that ARE SENT UNTO thee ; how often would I have gathered thy chil- 
dren together! &c. 









ST LUKE. 183 

even ivith the ground, and thy children within thee ; and 
they shall not leave on thee one stone upon another; 
because thou kneivest not the time of thy visitation. 
There is yet a third lamentation over the city of the 
sanctuary, which occurs in St Luke alone. On his way 
to Golgotha, Jesus bears his cross. And, as we read in 
our Evangelist (xxiii. 27-31), there followed him a great 
company of people, and of women, ivhich also bewailed 
and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, 
Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but iveep for 
yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days 
are coming, in the ivhich they shall say, Blessed are the 
barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps 
which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to 
the mountains, Fall on us ; and to the hills, Cover us. 
For if they do these things in a green tree, tuhat shall be 
done in the dry f Finally, it is St Luke who, in addition 
to the detailed prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
given by all the three synoptical Evangelists, 1 records 
the hint that was given of the restoration that she might 
one day expect. In his Gospel alone, we read in the 
prediction uttered by Jesus on the mount of Olives, these 
significant words (xxi. 24), And they shall fall by the 
edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all 
nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the 
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 
Thus, even in recording the judgments impending over 
Judea and its capital, the author of this Gospel invari- 
ably shews himself the friend of Judah and Jerusalem, 
a true servant and worshipper of Israel's God. Yet no 
more does he forget the blessings in reserve for the Gen- 
tiles. Is God the God of the Jews only f Is he not also 

1 Btatth. xxiv., Mark xiii.. Luke xxi. 



184 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

of the Gentiles f Yes, of the Gentiles also ! thus writes 

the apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. iii. 28). Such, too, is 

the spirit, and such is the leaning shewn bj St Luke in 

writing his Gospel. There we find Simeon's outburst of 

praise recorded with peculiar fitness (ii. 32), A light to 

lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel ! 

And that not to Israel alone, but to all who are come of 

Adam, the Son of God became kin, in taking man s 

nature upon him, is signified at once in his genealogy, as 

it runs in St Luke (iii. 23-28), not, as according to his 

predecessor (Matth. i. 1), up to David and Abraham, but 

up to Adam himself. Again, we find that St Luke alone 

records the powerful discourse in which our Saviour, by 

adducing two striking examples from the Scriptures of 

the Old Testament, places on the foreground the grace 

shewn to the Gentiles, yea, even to the passing over 

of Israel, (iv. 25-27) : But I tell you of a truth, many 

widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the 

heaven teas shut up three years and six months, when 

great famine was throughout all the land ; but unto none 

of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of 

Sidon, unto a ivoman that was a widoiv. And many 

lepers vjere in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet ; 

and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the 

Syrian. Moreover, is not almost the whole book of the 

Acts a glorification of the grace made known, not only to 

Israel, but also to all nations far and wide 1 presenting 

anew an historical exposition of that passage in St Paul 

(Rom. xv. 8-10), where he says, Now I say that Jesus 

Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth 

of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers : 

and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. 

Such is the fundamental idea that runs through all 



ST LUKE. 185 

the writings of our Evangelist. In St Matthew we 
are told of the Saviour witnessing of himself (xx. 28), 
that the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister. 1 In St Luke, the work, nay, the whole soul 
of Jesus, reveals itself in that one expression of the dis- 
course in the house of the centurion (Acts x. 38), who 
went about doing good. The Epistle to the Hebrews 
represents him to us as the merciful and compassionate 
high priest (iv. 15), We have not an high priest which 
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but 
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 
Such precisely is the priestly compassion which every 
where meets us in the Gospel of St Luke. 

But to do mercy, to exercise compassion, to bring 
healing, are there any ideas more akin than these to the 
title of Physician of Israel? 2 Most characteristically, 
therefore, have we the Saviour presented to us as such 
in the Gospel of the beloved physician. No doubt, in 
the other Gospels also, we have persons afflicted with 
maladies of soul and body, the needy, the feeble, the 
poor, the wretched, going to Jesus, and whom He seeks, 
whom He calls to him, whom He draws to him. But 
nowhere else do we find so rich a diversity, such an abun- 
dant fulness of cures administered to the needy, as here. 
Let us look into the cases of these objects of the deepest 
compassion of Jesus, as they are brought before us in St 
Luke, in some of their details. 

We have already seen sufficiently, in how particular a 
manner the sick, and their maladies and cures, are intro- 
duced in this Gospel. 3 Turning our view, then, from the 
ailments of the body, to sin, that great malady of the 
soul, we find recovery from that malady also glorified in 

1 Comp. p. 14, 15. 2 Exocl. xv. 26. 3 Page 146. 



186 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

St Luke, in his record of the most striking examples. 
None of the other Gospels has pictured to us the work of 
repentance and forgiveness with an equal degree of depth 
and fulness. In his we • have the affecting picture, 
already referred to, of the penitent woman in the house 
of the Pharisee, as, with the love and gratitude arising 
from faith in his grace, she not only anointed the feet of 
Jesus with costly perfume, but bathed them with her 
tears, and dried them with the hairs of her head. There, 
and only there, do we find the saying of the distinguished 
Apostle recorded, on the occasion of the miraculous 
draught of fishes (v. 8), Depart from me ; for I am a 
sinful man, Lord. In his Gospel alone we read the 
confession and the prayer of the malefactor on the cross 
(xxiii. 39-42), Lord, remember me when thou comest 
into thy kingdom; and the compassionate Saviour's reply, 
To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. There we 
have the first beginnings of remorse, and of sorrowing 
unto repentance in the multitudes, who, after having been 
present at the crucifixion (xxiii. 48), smote their breasts 
as they returned from Golgotha. In connexion with this 
striking detail, we find recorded in the Book of the Acts, 
the serious question put by those who were pricked in 
their hearts on the day of Pentecost (ii. 37), Men and 
brethren, what shall we do f and the answer given to it 
by God's ambassadors : Repent, and be baptized every one 
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins. In that second book of our Evangelist there may 
further be classed in the same category, the conversion of 
a great company of once bitterly hostile priests (vi. 7), 
the conversion of the persecuting Saul (ix. i. 19), and 
the conversion of the jailer when at the point of com- 
mitting self-murder (xvi. 25-33). 



ST LUKE. 187 

With sinners, publicans also are associated in the 
Gospels. We have seen how St Matthew makes himself 
known to us, as an example of the grace of God accorded 
to a publican. But in St Luke examples of this are 
multiplied. In him, besides the Apostle who received 
his call while at the receipt of custom at Capernaum, we 
have the chief among the publicans of Jericho, Zaccheus 
(xix. 1-10). In his Gospel, likewise, we read expressly 
and exclusively (iii. 12), how the publicans came to John 
the Baptist, saying : Master, what shall ive do f In 
his Gospel, finally, we have the parable of the pub- 
lican and his affecting prayer, God be mercifid to me 
a sinner. 

The Samaritan too, so despised in Israel, finds in St 
Luke's Gospel more than one occasion of being intro- 
duced in a heart-touching manner. Here alone we find 
recorded (xvii. 12, 18), the healing of the ten lepers, of 
whom one alone turned back, and with a loud voice 
glorified God, and fell down on his face at the feet of 
Jesus, giving him thanks; and he ivas a Samaritan. 
Here alone, likewise, is there preserved for us (x. 30-37) 
the parable of the Samaritan who shewed the deepest 
compassion towards his Israelite neighbour, bound up his 
wounds, poured wine and oil upon them, and provided 
for their complete cure. In the Acts, also, we meet with 
Samaria placed by St Luke next to Judea, in the com- 
mand given to the disciples that they should preach the 
Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth (i. 8). Soon 
after we find there (viii. 5-25), the preaching of Christ 
and the gift of the Holy Ghost extended to Samaria and 
many of its villages, notwithstanding their exclusion at 
an earlier period, as recorded by St Matthew. 1 

1 P. 47. 



188 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

But there is yet another sort of men, not like the 
Samaritans, despised by a single nation only, but little 
respected by the world in general, whom nevertheless the 
Saviour treated with special regard. The first benedic- 
tion in his sermon on the Mount, was pronounced on 
these : Blessed are the poor. Now there is abundant 
mention of the poor in St Luke, and his mention of them 
is deeply significant. He it is who has preserved for us 
in his Gospel that Lazarus, in whom we behold the 
image of the most deplorable, and yet also of the most 
blessed poverty, as contrasted with the miserable rich 
man (xvi- 19-31). — Nowhere do we read so often of 
almsgiving to the poor as in St Luke, particularly in the 
Acts. 1 — In the parable of those who were invited to the 
marriage-feast of the king's son, which St Matthew also 
has recorded (xxii. 2-14), St Luke alone gives this 
detail, forming a leading feature in the picture (xiv. 21), 
Go out quicMy into the streets and lanes of the city, and 
bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the 
halt, and the blind ; this, too, in connexion with the 
immediately preceding warning given by Jesus at the 
chief Pharisee's table (v. 12-14), Then said he also to 
him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or supper, 
call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kins- 
men, nor thy rich neighbours ; lest they also bid thee 
again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou 
makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, 
the blind : and thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot 
recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at the 
resurrection of the just. But also it is St Luke who, 
with respect to poverty, at least in the things of this 
life, beyond all others gives prominence in characteristic 

1 Acts iii. 1 ; ix. 36 ; x. 2, 4, 31 ; xxiv. 17. 



ST LUKE. 



I 189 



details to the manner in which he who exhorted to 
these things, even the Lord Jesus Christ, though he were 
rich, yet for our sokes became poor. 1 To him we are 
chiefly, though not altogether indebted, for what we 
know of the lowly condition of Joseph and Mary, which, 
if not poor, at least bordered on poverty. Among the 
circumstances attending the birth of our Lord at Beth- 
lehem, recorded in detail by St Luke alone, we find this 
(ii. 7) : that Mary brought forth her first-born son, and 
wrapt him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a 
manger ; because there was no room for them in the inn. 
From St Matthew, as well as St Luke, we learn, that the 
Son of man had not where to lay his head; yet there is 
a characteristic difference between these two Evangelists 
when they come to speak of the manner in which our 
Lord's necessities on this earth were provided for. St 
Matthew sets him before us, denuded indeed of this 
world's wealth, but rich in power, and receiving the 
tribute-money from the fish, which appeared with it at 
his command (xvii. 27) : St Luke represents to us the 
human consequences of this poverty, when the Lord con- 
descended to be ministered unto of their substance by 
certain godly and grateful women who followed him 
(viii. 3). 

Women, the weaker sex, whose part and influence in 
religion were destined first to be rightly seen under the 
New Testament economy — women have their diligence 
and God-glorifying love recorded and particularized more 
by St Luke than by any other of the sacred writers. 
At the first opening of his Gospel, we find, next to the 
son of Aaron, the daughter of Aaron, his wife, men- 
tioned with commendation (i. 5) ; nay, soon after, we 

1 2 Cor. viii. 9. 



190 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

find Elizabeth speaking from the impulse of her faith, 
while Zacharias was still dumb in consequence of his 
unbelief (v. 20 and 41). The mother herself of our Lord 
we never should have known in the days of her miracu- 
lous conception, and of the birth and infancy of her 
divine Son (i. ii.), from any other Gospel, in such ampli- 
tude of detail, as from St Luke's. He alone brings her 
before us, after our Lord's resurrection and ascension 
(Acts i. 14) : These all continued with one accord in 
prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the 
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. St Luke makes 
us acquainted with the women who followed our Lord 
under the cross and to the tomb, long before that time, 
by name, and with many interesting circumstances. He 
places them, as if they were a sort of female apostles, 
next to the chosen disciples (viii. 1, 2, 3) : And the 
twelve were with him, and certain ivomen, which had 
been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called 
Magdalene, out of ivhom went seven devils, and Joanna 
the vjife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and 
many others, which ministered unto him of their sub- 
stance. To St Luke we owe our acquaintance with 
Martha and Mary, the one in the zeal of her much 
service, the other at the feet of Jesus (x. 38-42) ; just 
such as we afterwards find them again with their brother 
Lazarus, at Bethany, in the Gospel of St John (xi). 
Among all the sinners who find mercy and salvation in 
Jesus, where is there an example to be compared with the 
woman that ivas a sinner, as we have already contemplated 
her under more than one point of view in St Luke \ The 
daughters of Zion, who bewailed our Lord on the way to 
Golgotha, are mentioned only by St Luke (xxiii. 27, 29). 
In the Acts, it is not the least part, in point of multipli- 



ST LUKE. 191 

city and importance, that is given to what he has to say 
of women. As the objects of the persecuting zeal of 
Saul, he distinguishes men and women (ix. 2) ; as be- 
lievers baptized by Philip the Evangelist at Samaria, he 
mentions women as well as men (viii. 12) ; as he pro- 
ceeds with his narrative, he mentions by name Tabitha 
of Joppa, full of good works and alms deeds, and her 
being raised from the dead by St Peter (ix. 36-42) ; 
afterwards at Jerusalem (xii. 12-15), Mary, the sister of 
Barnabas, and mother of John Mark, in whose house the 
Church met for mutual prayer, at the time of the perse- 
cution directed against James and Peter ; and the damsel 
named Rhoda, who with such a natural feeling of glad- 
ness ran in to announce the delivered apostle, before she 
had opened the door ; afterwards the mother of Timothy 
at Derbe (xvi. 1) ; then as the first convert made in 
Europe, Lydia, the seller of purple, whose heart the Lord 
opened, that she attended unto the things which tuere 
spoken by Paid (xvi. 14) ; later still, among the small 
number of those who were led to the faith at Athens, a 
woman of the name of Damaris (xvii. 34) ; then the 
excellent Priscilla, wife of Aquila, to whom Apollos, who 
was mighty in the Scriptures, was indebted for a more 
perfect knowledge' of the way of God in the Gospel 
(xviii. 2, 26), arid whom St Paul had to thank for the 
services of the most faithful friendship, given even at the 
risk of his life (Rom. xvi. 3, 4) ; finally, at Cesarea, the 
four daughters of Philip, who prophesied (xxi. 8). 

Among the women whom St Luke so particularly 
mentions, the widows occupy the foremost place. Widoivs 
are most particularly presented to us in the pages of this 
Evangelist in an affecting connexion with the service of 
God and of the Church of Christ. Do we not find the 



192 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

image traced by St Paul of a widow who is a widow 
indeed, one, to wit, that trusteth in God, and continueth 
in supplications and prayers night and day (1 Tim. v. 5), 
in Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, who being a widow of 
about fourscore and four years, which departed not from 
the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers 
night and day — she also being mentioned by St Luke 
alone. In St Luke (iv. 25, 26) our Lord reminds the 
people of Nazareth, that many widows were in Israel in 
the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three 
years and six months, when great famine was throughout 
all the land ; and how that unto none of them was Elias 
sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman 
that was A widow. A widow in the parable of the 
unjust judge, a parable recorded by St Luke alone (xviii. 
1-8), is proposed as an example of that continual prayer 
in which God's elect ought to be ever occupied while 
waiting for the great day of their Lord. The young man 
who was restored to life by Jesus near Nam, was the son 
of a widow (vii. 11-16). 

The good deed done to this last-mentioned widow, 
whose tears were dried by a single word from our Lord, 
when he delivered her son to her (v. 15), suggests to us 
another class of persons, to whom, as by predilection, his 
mercies were displayed with peculiar lustre, namely, only 
children. In what is related of the restoration to life of 
the daughter of Jairus, we have it remarked in St Luke, 
and in St Luke alone, that she was an only daughter 
(viii. 42). In like manner, in the account of the cure of 
the lunatic child, we read only in St Luke how feelingly 
the father, in his prayer to Jesus, emphatically pleads 
this circumstance (ix. 38) : Master, I beseech thee, look 
upon my son, for he is mine only child. 



ST LUKE. 193 

To the class of the helpless belong also children. 
Children to our Lord were welcome and precious. We 
know what he said of them, as recorded by all the three 
synoptical Evangelists : Suffer little children to come 
unto me ; l and at another place : Except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven! 1 St Luke, however, has recorded 
some still more touching particulars with respect to 
childhood. In his Gospel we have, first of all, John the 
Baptist, who, while still in his mother's womb, leapt for 
joy at the approach of his Lord (i. 44) ; and with regard 
to whom, soon after the singular circumstances attending 
his circumcision, many were led to say, What manner of 
child shall this bef (i. G6). But he exhibits the Lord 
Jesus himself when a child, as no other Evangelist has 
done. He alone brings us acquainted with Jesus when 
he was twelve years old, sitting in the midst of the 
doctors in the temple, making them astonished at his 
wisdom, and anon returning to be subject to his parents 
at Nazareth (ii. 40-52). There is something remarkable 
in the whole human growth and development of the holy 
child, as indicated by our eminently historical Evangelist. 
We have represented here in regular succession : the fruit 
of Marys tvomb highly blessed (i. 42) — a babe (Gr. 
j3pe'(f)o<;) lying in a manger (ii. 12, 20) — circumcised 
anon on the eighth day (v. 21) — thereafter as a child 
(Gr. iralBiov) brought into the temple, and taken up by 
Simeon in his arms (v. 27) — later still (v. 40, 43, 52), 
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with 
God and man, as a youth (Gr. iraU) ; and, finally, at 

1 Matth. xix. 14, Mark x. 13, Luke xviii. 15. 

2 Matth, xviii. 3, Mark x. 15, Luke xviii. 17, 

N 



194 THE FOUR WITNESSES, 

the age of thirty years (iii. 23), as full-grown man (Gi\ 
dvrjp) (Acts. ii. 22, xyii. 21). 

Thus, then, have we presented to us, in this our third 
Gospel, in a w r ay altogether peculiar to it, the helpless, 
the poor, the despised, the weak, the wretched, and 
sinners, gathered round Jesus, the compassionate Saviour, 
received by him, called to him ; nay, we see himself 
repeatedly, according to the depths of the riches and the 
strength of his divine love, identified, as it were, with all 
that is weak, and poor, and despised. 1 Is there not an 
admirable fitness and consistency in the Gospel of tender- 
heartedness and compassion, being also emphatically the 
Gospel of prayer ? Mercy and prayer, supplication and 
compassion, are kindred and mutually corresponding 
ideas. And so, in point of fact, it is in our Evangelist 
Luke. As the Epistles of Paul abound in urgent calls 
to perseverance in supplication and prayer ; so, too, are 
the writings of the Evangelist, who was his companion in 
labour, in the impressive examples he records. His 
Gospel opens at once with an instance of answered prayer, 
(i. 13), Fear not, Zacharias ; for thy prayer is heard. 
Anon we have the aged prophetess brought before us, 
serving God in the temple ivith prayers night and day 
(ii. 37). Just before, we have Simeon's prayer (ii. 29), 
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ! As 
for the similitudes recorded in this Gospel, to prompt to 
believing, importunate prayer, we have already had 
before us that of the son, to whom his father would not 
assuredly give a stone, a serpent, or a scorpion, on his 

1 Here we would again refer to 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; to which may be added 2 Cor. 
siii. 4, Phil, ii, 5-8, 



ST LUKE. 195 

asking for bread, or a fish, or an egg. In the other simili- 
tude employed for the same purpose, that of the friend 
awakening his friend at midnight to ask for bread, there 
is one further trait which well deserves being noticed ; it 
is, that he does not ask for the loaves merely for himself, 
but for the benefit of a third party, to whom he was 
called upon to exercise hospitality (xi. 5, 6) — a par- 
ticular which seems to hint, that in prayer to God we 
should be mindful of the communion of the saints. In 
another similitude, the necessity and the advantage of 
an unbounded and importunate perseverance in prayer 
are inculcated (xviii. i. 8). In Gethsemane, the exhorta- 
tion to pray that we enter not into temptation, occurs twice 
in St Luke, and in St Luke alone (xxii. 40-46). After- 
wards at Golgotha, we have the prayer of the thief on 
the cross, brief and expressive, like that of the publican 
in the parable. But it is chiefly in the Book of the Acts 
that Ave find numerous recorded instances of supplica- 
tion and prayer, by persons very different from each 
other, and placed in very different circumstances ; the 
prayers of the Apostles at their meetings, between the 
day of the ascension and that of Pentecost (i. 14, 24, 25) ; 
the prayers in common of the first believers in Jerusalem 
(ii. 42) ; a prayer heard and answered immediately, amid 
the oppressions endured by the Apostles in the Gospel 
testimony (iv. 24-31) ; the prayer of Stephen at the 
time of his martyrdom, for his own soul and for the 
conversion of his murderers (vii. 59, 60) ; and when 
prayer was answered in the conversion of Paul — con- 
version intimated by our Lord himself to a disciple at 
Damascus, by that one most comprehensive expression : 
Behold! he prayeth (ix. 11) ; — then Tabitha restored to 
life on Peter kneeling down and praying at her side (ix. 



196 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

11); the assiduous prayers of Cornelius the centurion, heard 
in so glorious a manner (x. 2, 4) ; the prayers offered up 
for St Peter while he lay in prison, looking for death, 
and answered while he was asleep (xii. 5-11) ; the 
prayers of the Church met at Antioch, soon followed 
by an explicit command from the Holy Ghost (xiii. 
1-4) ; St Paul's prayers on his taking leave of his 
friends at Miletus (xx. 36) — at Tyre (xxi. 5), with men, 
women, and children, made on their knees, and in 
common, &c. 

But it is not only the disciples, it is also their Lord 
and Master himself, whom St Luke in his Gospel sets 
before us, in striking circumstances, and with glorious 
results, as praying. This we no doubt find in St Mark 
and St Matthew also, though in the latter we have more 
of prayer addressed to Jesus than of the prayers of Jesus 
brought before us ; but in Luke the instances are more 
frequent, and are found in a connexion, and followed by 
effects altogether of a peculiar kind. Thus when Jesus 
was baptized, when the heaven was opened and the 
Holy Ghost descended, St Luke alone (iii. 21) records 
that this took place while Jesus prayed. Before relating 
the cures performed on many that were sick, St Luke in 
a few short words notes, that Jesus withdreiv himself 
into the wilderness, and prayed (v. 15-17). Before the 
solemn calling of the Apostles, according to the same 
Evangelist (vi. 13), our Lord went into a mountain to 
pray, and continued cdl night in prayer to God (v. 12). 
That most weighty question put by Jesus to his disciples, 
Whom say the people that I am? and again, But whom 
say ye that I am? and St Peter's answer, The Christ 
of God, are in the Gospel before us shortly preceded 
with prayer (ix. 18, 19). Peculiar emphasis is laid on 



ST LUKE. 197 

the praying of the Lord Jesus, in the account of his 
transfiguration on the mount, ever again in St Luke 
(ix. 28, 29) : And it came to pass about an eight clays 
after these sayings, he tool' Peter and John and James, 
and went up into a mountain to peay. And as he 
prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and 
his raiment was white and glistering. But what gives 
us jet a deeper insight into the nature of our Lord's 
praying, is the following passage in St Luke (xxii. 31, 
32) : Simon, Simon, said our Lord to Peter at the 
Paschal supper on the night preceding his passion, 
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift 
you as wheat ; but I have peayed foe thee, that thy 
faith fail xot. This was the intercessory prayer of 
the compassionate High Priest, of whom it stands 
written, that he ever liveth to make intercession for his 
people (Heb. vii. 25, Rom. viii. 34). The prayer of our 
Saviour in Gethsemane, when exceeding sorrowful even 
unto death, is recorded by all the three synoptical Evan- 
gelists ; but St Luke alone adds the details of his agony, 
his praying yet more earnestly, and his bloody sweat 
(xxii. 43, 41). St Luke has preserved three of our 
Lord's seven sayings on the cross, and two of these are 
prayers to God : Father, forgive them; for they hiow not 
what they do (xxiii. 31) : and (-L6), Father, into thy hands 
I commend my Spirit. 

Now, when we would comprise in one idea all these 
leading features of our third Gospel — all these several 
elements that go to compose it — what do we find 1 Is 
it true that the distinctive character of the facts and 
doctrines collected by St Luke is, that they, in the most 
marked and profoundly interesting manner, place over 



198 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

against the depths of man's sinfulness, wretchedness, 
weakness, and poverty, in strong relief, mercy, compas- 
sion, charity, salvation, prayer, and answers to prayer, 
faith, grace, and joy \ — then know we no word that is 
better fitted to convey an impression of all this, than 
unction. The Gospel of the beloved physician and 
Evangelist, the fellow-labourer of St Paul, is emphatically 
a Gospel full of unction. But that very word involves a 
new suggestion with respect to the harmonies to be found 
among these writings. Unction, according to the writers 
of the Old Testament, but still more according to those 
of the New, proceeds from the Holy Ghost. 1 Now, one 
of the grand characteristic features of St Luke's evan- 
gelical history, appears precisely in his mentioning, more 
or less directly, in a variety of ways, and in an almost 
unbroken sequence, the Holy Ghost and his gifts, opera- 
tions, and divine personality. The very first scene 
opened to us in his Gospel, points us to the Holy Spirit 
The promise made to Zacharias and to Elizabeth is 
accompanied with this glorious specialty (i. 15), He shall 
be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither 
wine nor strong drink ; and he shall he filled with the 
Holy Ghost, even from Ms mothers ivomb. 2 We find 
immediately after, in the Gospel of St Luke, the literal 
accomplishment of this prediction in the imposing yet 
very simple circumstance (i. 41-44), that the babe John 
leapt for joy under his mother's heart at the approach 
of her who was already the mother of the Lord (v. 43). 
To the latter — to her who was blessed among women — the 
sublime mystery of the Saviour's conception had already 
been announced, then, with a fulness which was not re- 

1 Isa. Ixi. 1, John ii. 20, 27, and elsewhere. 
5 Compare Ephes. v. 18. 



ST LUKE. 199 

quired in the message of the angel to Joseph, as recorded 
by St Matthew (i. 20, 21), in St Luke (i. 35), The Holy 
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing that 
shall be bom of thee shall be called the Son of God. There- 
after Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias, beiug filled with 
the Holy Ghost, spoke and sang as inspired by Him 
(41, 46, 67). Later still, we find mention there made 
of the aged Simeon (ii. 25, 26), that the Holy Ghost 
was upon him, and how it was revealed to him by the 
Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had 
seen the Lord's Christ, and how also he came by the 
Spirit (v. 27) into the Temple, just as the parents of the 
child Jesus had brought him there to do unto him after 
the custom of the law. On the occasion of our Lord's 
being baptized in the Jordan, as well as upon that of his 
retiring immediately after into the wilderness, again it is 
St Luke who lays an emphasis on that name of the 
Holy Ghost, and who explains more fully his descent 
as a dove (Matth. in. 16, Mark i. 10), by adding, in a 
bodily shape (hi. 22, and iy. 1). What, in the encou- 
ragement to prayer, is called in St Matthew (vii. 11) good 
gifts, is in St Luke (xi. 13) specifically defined as the Holy 
Ghost. But it is chiefly in the Book of the Acts that we 
find reference made and glory ascribed to the Holy Ghost, 
in such a multiplicity of circumstances of all sorts, that it 
is not without reason that some haye called it the Gospel 
of the Holy Ghost. In fact, the Spirit is spoken of at its 
very commencement as the living medium, too, of com- 
munion between our Lord and his disciples (i. 2) : He 
through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto 
the apostles whom he had chosen. Forthwith we find in 
that highly important Book the outpouring of the Holy 



200 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Ghost, first at Jerusalem, and among the first disciples 
(chap, ii.) • after that at Samaria, by the imposition of 
the hands of the Apostles (viii. 15, 16); then at Cesarea, 
in a Gentile family, and on Gentiles (x. xi.) In more 
than one passage of that same book, the Spirit is repre- 
sented to us in his divine personality. It is the Spirit 
who commanded Philip to go near and join himself to 
the chariot of the Ethiopian while reading the prophet 
Esaias (viii. 29), and who again caught him away (v. 39). 
It was the same Spirit who in a like personal manner 
intimated to St Peter, that he must follow to the house 
of Cornelius the messengers who had been sent from it 
(x. 19, 20), The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men 
seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go 
with them, doubting nothing : for I have sent them. And 
subsequently to that, at Antioch, where the Church, with 
its prophets and teachers, prayed and fastecl (xiii. 1, 2), 
we hear the Holy Ghost saying, Separate me Bar- 
nabas and Saul for the worh ivhereunto I have called 
them. The Old Testament writings, in fine, are several 
times quoted there as the sayings of the Holy Ghost 
(i. 16) : This scripture must needs have been fulfilled, 
which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake 
before, &c. ; and (xxviii. 25), Well spake the Holy 
Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers. Compare 
also the Epistle to the Hebrews (iii. 7, x. 15, ix. 8). 

Connected also with this frequent mention of the Holy 
Ghost, is the representing of Jesus definitely as the 
Anointed {Messias, Christ), which again is characteristic 
of both these books. Thus, for example, in the annun- 
ciation made by the angels at Bethlehem (ii. 11), Unto 
you is bom a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord ; and. 



ST LUKE. 201 

anon, when the promise to Simeon is spoken of (ii. 26), 
that he should not see death, before he had seen the 
Lord's Cheist ; and in the discourse to the family of Cor- 
nelius (Acts x. 38) : Ye know, how God anointed Jesus 
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. 
Nay, it may be said that the whole essence of our third 
Gospel will be found concentrated in that passage of 
Isaiah (lxi. 1, 2), which portrays the mission of the 
Anointed One in some most striking particulars. We 
find this passage quoted by St Luke alone, as it was 
read in the book of that prophet by Jesus, in the syna- 
gogue at Nazareth, and applied to himself (iv. 16-21) : 
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: 
and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the 
sabbath-day, and stood up for to read. And there luas 
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And 
when he had opened the book, he found the place where it 
was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; 
he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the 
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach 
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, 
and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And 
the eyes of cdl them that were in the synagogue were 
fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This 
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. 

Here we have alike in the prophecy and in the Gospel, 
the Saviour set before us in the riches of his mercy. A 
prophecy of the same prophet Isaiah has been recorded 
by St Matthew, who places it where he relates the 
coming of Jesus to Capernaum, situate by the seaside, 
on the confines of Zebulon and Naphtali (iv* 14, 16) f 



202 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

That it might he fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias, the 
prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of 
Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, 
Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darlcness 
saiv great light; and to them which sat in the region and 
shadow of death light is sprung up. 

One sees at a glance the characteristic difference 
between the two Gospels and the two prophecies, which 
seem respectively to symbolize them. In St Matthew it 
is the prophecy of the great light, in St Luke that of 
the unction by the Holy Ghost. 

Thus, then, with regard to the manner in which our 
Saviour's person is represented to us, we find in the 
three Gospels that we have hitherto examined, Jesus 
invariably the same as Israel's Messiah, the Son of God 
made man, the Saviour of sinners ; but in St Matthew 
we behold him more on the side of his prophetic-royal 
grandeur — in St Luke more on that of his unction as 
high priest — while in St Mark, the reality of his human 
nature stands most prominently forward. 

We shall now close our observations on St Luke with 
a succinct notice of the relation in which his Gospel 
stands to its two predecessors, and especially to that of 
St Matthew. In order to this, we shall first glance at 
certain particulars exclusively belonging to one of the 
two ; next, at the facts equally recorded by both, some- 
times with the same details, sometimes ivith a difference 
in the details, but this difference in perfect harmony with 
the several individual characteristics to which we have 
already directed the reader's attention in our analysis, as 
far as we have carried it, of the three first Gospels. 

As to the facts that are recorded by one and omitted 
by the other, we find, for example, the adoration of the 



ST LUKE. 203 

wise men of the East related by St Matthew (ii.), but 
not repeated by St Luke. It is because St Matthew, 
in proving the fulfilment of the prophecies, necessarily 
behoved to mention that homage (foretold by the prophets) 
as offered to the king of Israel by the Gentiles (Ps. lxxii). 
To compensate for this, St Luke gives us all those inci- 
dents in the history of the childhood of Jesus which 
occurred in the interior of the Temple, and of the families 
of Joseph and Mary, and of Zacharias and Elizabeth. St 
Matthew (xiv. 22, 23) relates our Lord's walking upon 
the sea, an incident omitted by St Luke, who records, on 
the other hand, the miraculous draught of fishes by the 
ship of St Peter (v. 1-11). This, because it is St 
Matthew's grand object to exhibit the greatness of Him 
who makes a path for his feet in the great waters ; whereas 
St Luke's grand object was to exhibit the mercy, and the 
riches of the goodness of the same Saviour-God, who 
puts forth his power in doing good, and conferring bene- 
fits on his people. Such is the key which every where 
accounts for the differences between St Matthew and St 
Luke, in so far as the one omits what the other mentions. 
But in the greater number of cases they both record 
the same facts in their grand features; and then they 
often so agree in the details to the very letter, that one 
clearly perceives that St Luke has simply followed St 
Matthew's Gospel as it lay before him. Sometimes, on 
the other hand, the details are very differently given by 
the two Evangelists ; that is to say, the one mentions 
particularly a detail altogether omitted by the other. 
And in this last case the mention and the omission alike 
are still found in the most perfect harmony with the plan 
and the character of the two Evangelists, as we have 
observed these in the preceding pages. 



204 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



Let us take a few examples of a perfect, or almost per- 
fect, literal harmony between these two Gospels : — 



Matth. iii. 7-10. 
But when he saw many of the 
Pharisees and Saclducees come to 
his baptism, lie said uuto them, 
generation of vipers, who hath 
warned you to flee from the wrath 
to come? Bring forth therefore 
fruits meet for repentance : and 
think not to say within yourselves, 
We have Abraham to our father : 
for I say unto you, that God is 
able of these stones to raise up 
children unto Abraham. And now 
also the axe is laid unto the root 
of the tree : therefore every tree 
which bringeth not forth good 
fruit, is hewn down, and cast into 
the fire. 

And at another place : 

Matth. xi. 21-23. 
Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe 
unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the 
mighty works, which were done in 
you, had been done in Tyre and 
Sidon, they would have repented 
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 
But I say unto you, It shall be 
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon 
at the day of judgment, than for 
you. And thou, Capernaum, which 
art exalted unto heaven, shalt be 
brought down to hell. 

And yet at another place 

Matth. xii. 39-45. 
But he answered and said unto 
them, An evil and adulterous gene- 
ration seeketh after a sign ; and 
there shall no sign be given to it, 
but the sign of the prophet Jonas : 
for as Jonas was three days and 
three nights in the whale's belly ; so 



Luke iii. 7-9. 
Then said he to the multitude 
that came forth to be baptized of 
him, generation of vipers, who 
hath warned you to flee from the 
wrath to come ? Bring forth there- 
fore fruits worthy of repentance, 
and begin not to say within your- 
selves, We have Abraham to our 
father : for I say unto you, That 
God is able of these stones to raise 
up children unto Abraham. And 
now also the axe is laid unto the 
root of the trees : every tree there- 
fore which bringeth not forth good 
fruit is 
the fire. 



Luke x. 13-15. 
Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe 
unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the 
mighty works had been done in 
Tyre and Sidon, which have been 
done in you, they had a great while 
ago repented, sitting in sackcloth 
and ashes. But it shall be more 
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the 
judgment, than for you. And thou, 
Capernaum, which art exalted to 
heaven, shalt be thrust down to 
hell. 



Luke xi. 29-32, and 24-26. 

And when the people were gather* 
ed thick together, he began to say, 
This is an evil generation : they 
seek a sign ; and there shall no 
sign be given it, but the sign of 
Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas 
was a sign unto the Ninevites, so 



ST LUKE. 



205 



shall the Son of man be three days 
and three nights in the heart of the 
earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise 
in j udgment with this generation, and 
shall condemn it : because they re • 
pented at the preaching of Jonas ; 
and, behold, a greater than Jonas is 
here. The queen of the south shall 
rise up in the judgment with this 
generation, and shall condemn it : 
for she came from the uttermost 
parts of the earth to hear the wis- 
dom of Solomon ; and, behold, a 
greater than Solomon is here. 
When the unclean spirit is gone 
out of a man, he walketh through 
dry places, seeking rest, and findeth 
none. Then he saith, I will return 
into my house from whence I came 
out ; and when he is come, he 
findeth it empty, swept, and gar- 
nished. Then goeth he, and takcth 
with himself seven other spirits 
more wicked than himself, and they 
enter in and dwell there : and the 
last state of that man is worse 
than the first. Even so shall it be 
also unto this wicked generation. 



shall also the Son of man be to this 
generation. The queen of the south 
shall rise up in the judgment with 
the men of this generation, and 
condemn them : for she came from 
the utmost parts of the earth to hear 
the wisdom of Solomon ; and, be- 
hold, a greater than Solomon is 
here. The men of Nineve shall rise 
up in the judgment with this gene • 
ration, and shall condemn it : for 
they repented at the preaching of 
Jonas ; and, behold, a greater than 
Jonas is here. 24. When the un- 
clean spirit is gone out of a man, 
he walketh through dry places, 
seeking rest ; and finding none, he 
saith, I will return unto my house 
whence I came out. And when he 
cometh, he findeth it swept and 
garnished. Then goeth he, and 
taketh to him seven other spirits 
more wicked than himself; and 
they enter in, and dwell there : and 
the last state of that man is worse 
than the first. 



Let us next take an instance of one and the same fact 
related both by St Matthew and St Luke ; but by the 
former in a general way and in its main features, by the 
latter with characteristic details. 



Mattii. viii. 5. Luke vii. 1. 

And when Jesus was entered Now when he had ended all his 
into Capernaum, there came unto sayings in the audience of the people, 
him a centurion, beseeching him. he entered into Capernaum. 2. 
C. And saying, Lord, my servant And a certain centurion's servant, 
lieth at home sick of the palsy, who was dear unto him, was sick, 
grievously tormented. and ready to die. 3. And when 

he heard of Jesus, he sent unto 
him the elders of the Jews, be- 
seeching him that he would come 
and heal his servant. 4. And 
when they came to Jesus, they be- 



206 



THE FOUK WITNESSES, 



7. And Jesus saith unto him, I 
•will come and heal him. 8. The 
centurion answered and said unto 
him, Lord, I am not worthy that 
thou shouldest come under my roof : 



but speak the word only, and my 
servant shall be healed. 

9. For I am a man under autho- 
rity, having soldiers under me : 
and I say to this man, Go, and he 
goeth ; and to another, Come, and 
he cometh ; and to my servant, Do 
this, and he doeth it. 

10. When Jesus heard it, he 
marvelled, and said to them that 
followed, Verily I say unto you, I 
have not found so great faith, no, 
not in Israel. 11. And I say 
unto you, that many shall come 
from the east and w^est, and 
shall sit down with Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom 
of heaven. 12. But the children 
of the kingdom shall be cast out 
into outer darkness : there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

13. And Jesus said unto the 
centurion, Go thy way; and as thou 
hast believed, so be it done unto 
thee. And his servant was healed 
in the selfsame hour. 



sought him instantly, saying, That 
he was worthy for whom he should 
do this. 5. For he loveth our na- 
tion, and he hath built us a syna- 
gogue. 

6. Then Jesus went with them. 
And when he was now not far from 
the house, the centurion sent friends 
to him, saying unto him : Lord, 
trouble not thyself] for I am not 
worthy that thou shouldest enter 
under my roof: 7. Wherefore 
neither thought I myself worthy to 
come unto thee : but say in a word, 
and my servant shall be healed. 

8. For I also am a man set 
under authority, having under me 
soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, 
and he goeth ; and to another, 
Come, and he cometh ; and to my 
servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 

9. When Jesus heard these 
things, he marvelled at him, and 
turned him about, and said unto the 
people that followed him, I have 
not found so great faith, no, not in 
Israel. 



10. And they thai were sent, 
returning to the house, found the 
servant ivhole that had been sick. 



The respective characters of these two narratives are 
evident. We have the incident related in its grand fun- 
damental traits in St Matthew, and these St Luke lite- 
rally adopts : the great faith of the centurion, and the 
characteristic illustration from military life, in which he 



ST LUKE, 207 

expresses that faith (Matth. v. 9, Luke v. 8) ; after that 
the amazement of Jesus at finding such faith in a Gentile, 
and the comparison with Israel (Matth. x., Luke ix). 
But now come the striking particulars by which the more 
fully wrought out narrative of St Luke is distinguished. 
With respect to the sickness of the servant ; he 
assumes to he known what St Matthew says of it, that 
he was sick of the palsy, adding the important cir- 
cumstance, that he was ready to die (v. 2). He alone 
brings out the fact of the godly centurion, in his undis- 
sembled humility, accounting himself unworthy either to 
receive the Saviour into his house, or to come to him in 
person. First (v. 3 and 4), he sends, as intercessors to 
present his urgent prayer in behalf of his faithful servant, 
some Elders of the Jews ; next, when Jesus was already 
on his way to visit him, he sends some friends to meet 
him, with the expressions of humility which St Matthew 
also records (v. 8), attributing, however, immediately to 
the centurion what the latter, properly speaking, did 
through a double intervention of other persons, according 
to a common though less accurate mode of statement 
(v. 8 and 13). Then we have in St Luke a striking 
antithesis in the sense of unworthiness, expressed by 
himself, and the character for worthiness given to him by 
the elders on account of his liberality and love to their 
nation (v. 4 and 5). What we read in St Matthew as 
having been declared by our Lord with respect to the 
calling of the Gentiles, and the reprobation of unbeliev- 
ing Israel (v. 11 and 12), is suppressed here in our third 
Gospel, because uttered by our Lord in point of fact on 
another occasion ; but thus the conclusion is put in 
stronger relief, that they that were sent, returning to the 
house, found the servant whole that had been sich (v. 10), 



208 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

while St Matthew, suppressing anew all mention of the 
intermediate persons, simply states the result. 

The respective characters of the two Gospels come out 
in another way ; to wit, in their modes of relating the 
ivords or declarations of our Lord. In this we again 
recognise in St Luke the historian, who states what was 
said more according to the letter, in Matthew the apostle 
rather, who in virtue of his high commission, and of his 
more immediate relationship to the Saviour, was em- 
powered to explain and paraphrase his words according 
to their essential object, in full accordance with the 
meaning and spirit of the speaker. Thus, for example, 
St Matthew and St Luke give the opening of the sermon 
on the Mount, with some differences, as follows : — 

Matth. v. 3-6. Luke vi. 20, 21. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit : Blessed be ye poor : for yours is 

for theirs is the kingdom of hea- the kingdom of God. Blessed are 

ven. Blessed are they that mourn : ye that hunger now : for ye shall 

for they shall be comforted. Blessed be filled. Blessed are ye that weep 

are the meek: for they shall inherit now : for ye shall laugh. 
the earth. Blessed are they which 
do hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness : for they shall be filled. 

The minute yet nowise meaningless differences in this 
twofold record, as well as the essential sameness of the 
matters recorded, are perceived at a glance. In St 
Matthew the third person plural is employed : Blessed 
are they. In Luke these sayings are directly addressed 
to the men themselves, in the second person : Blessed 
are ye. There can be no doubt that our Saviour used 
the latter form of expression, from what we are told 
immediately before in St Luke, that he lifted up his eyes 
on his disciples, and said, &c. St Matthew (v. 2) speaks 
generally of teaching. St Luke, who here evidently 



ST LUKE. 209 

gives our Lord's words most literally, speaks of the 
poor ; St Matthew explains the deeper meaning of the 
word, by saying— poor in spirit. We again meet with 
St Luke's version in another apostle, St James, who in 
his Epistle (ii. 5, 6) speaks of the poor of this world as 
rich in faith. In like manner, in his fourth beatitude, 
St Matthew has apostolically elucidated and paraphrased 
what in St Luke is expressed more briefly and generally : 
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness. In like manner, too, those very artless expressions 
in St Luke (v. 21) : weep and laugh, bear evidently 
enough the stamp of the words originally uttered ; while 
those employed by St Matthew, mourn and be comforted, 
may be regarded as an exposition of them. (Verse 5th, 
in St Matthew, is evidently taken from Psalm xxxvii. 11). 

The relation of St Luke's Gospel to St Mark's, as well 
as of St Mark's to St Matthew's, wherever two only of 
the three synoptical writers have recorded any thing that 
was done, seems to us sufficiently established by our pre- 
ceding review of these two last Gospels. 1 In like manner, 
we have seen the peculiar characteristics of each stand 
out in the case of all three relating one and the same 
occurrence. In the case of the already analysed narra- 
tives of the restoration to life of the daughter of Jairus — ■ 
of the cure of the possessed person in the country of the 
Gadarenes — of that of the blind at Jericho — of the con- 
fession of the Messiahship of Jesus — of the transfigura- 
tion on the Mount — and of the cure of the young lunatic, 
each of our readers, after the closer acquaintanceship 
we have made with St Luke, may be convinced, after a 
repeated perusal, how — first, from the narrative of St 

1 P. 53. 

o 



210 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Matthew— who has given us a summary account of occur- 
rences in their grand features — secondly, the representa- 
tion of them by St Mark begins immediately, by a pro- 
cess of elaborating particular circumstances into his narra- 
tive ; and how, thirdly, St Luke, availing himself of both 
these preceding works as the source whence he drew the 
materials of his own history, adopts from St Mark 
whatever might serve to elucidate a leading fact, or to 
give greater precision to the more general outline of St 
Matthew ; while, besides, St Mark's more scenic delinea- 
tion of details is followed up in St Luke by deeper, more 
tender, and more connected communication of motives 
and feelings. 

We find the mutual bearings we have indicated as 
existing among the first three evangelical writers, in point 
of character and the order of time in which they wrote, 
reappear in a remarkable manner in the incorporation 
into their Gospels of that most important part of our 
Lord's instructions — the parables. 

The parables have been preserved for us on the pages 
of the three synoptical Evangelists alone. They are not 
to be found in St John, at least in their ordinary histori- 
cal form. But at the same time they are divided among 
the former after this fashion, that some of the parables 
have been recorded by all three Evangelists, others by 
only two, others by only one of them. 

There is something characteristic, in the first place, in 
the distribution of those parables which occur only once 
in those w T ritings. Of these parables, we have in St 
Matthew alone, that of the tares among the wheat (xiii. 
24-30) ; that of the treasure hid in the field (v. 44) ; 
that of the pearl of great price (v. 45, 46) ; that of the 



ST LUKE. 211 

net of the fishermen (v. 47-50) ; that of the householder's 
treasure (v. 52) ; that of the king who forgave his 
ungrateful servant ten thousand talents (xviii. 21-34) ; 
that of the labourers in the vineyard (xx. 1—16) ; that 
of the two sons who spoke otherwise than they did (xxi. 
28-32) ; that of the five wise and the five foolish virgins 
(xxv. 1-13). The parable of the seed that grew up 
without the soiver Icnoiving hoiu, is found only in St Mark. 
One sees at once the analogy of that similitude with the 
whole plan and character of his Gospel. 1 It is only in 
St Luke, and always with a clear indication of the precise 
time, and in the most significant connexion, that we find 
the parable of the two debtors, of whom the one was for- 
given much, and the other little, on the occasion of the 
forgiveness of the woman who was a sinner (vii. 41-43); 
that of the charitable Samaritan, in answer to the law- 
yer's question, Who is my neighbour f (x. 30-36) ; that 
of the friend wlio came to his friend at midnight wanting 
bread, in connexion with the model prayer, Our Father 
which art in heaven (xi. 5-8) ; that of the rich man 
wliose soul ivas required of him in the midst of his 
worldly plans, on the occasion of our Lord's giving a 
warning against avarice (xii. 15) ; that of the barren 
fig-tree, in connexion with the judgment pronounced on 
all the unconverted (xiii. 6-9) ; that of the invited to the 
marriage-feast, when our Lord had occasion to reprimand 
those who chose out the chief rooms (xiv. 7-11) ; that of 
the man tuho wished to build a tower, and that of the 
king yjho ivent out to battle, meant as an explanation of 
the saying, Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come 
after me, cannot be my disciple (xiv. 28-33) ; the 
parable of the lost piece of money, and of the prodigal 



212 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

son (with that of the lost sheep, recorded by St Matthew 
also), directed against the Pharisees and the scribes (xv); 
that of the unjust steward, on the same occasion, directed 
against the avarice of the Pharisees (xyi. 1-14); that 
again of the rich man and Lazarus, on the same occasion 
(xvi. 19-31), and shortly after the declaration, that that 
which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in 
the sight of God (v. 15); that of the servant returning 
from the field, in our Lord's discourse on faith and for- 
giveness (xvii. 7-1 0) ; that of the ividoiu and the unjust 
judge, in direct connexion with the announcement of 
the last days, and the exhortation to persevering prayer 
(xvii. 20-37, xviii. 1-8). 

Besides this obvious characteristic of attention to chro- 
nological order which distinguishes the arrangement of 
the parables that are found only in St Luke, some further 
distinctive marks deserve being noted here. The simili- 
tudes introduced by St Matthew are, on the whole, taken 
rather from public and professional, those in St Luke 
rather from domestic, life. Those in St Matthew present 
our Lord to us rather as King — his kingdom more in 
connexion with this world and this world's destiny ; 
those of St Luke more in connexion with the life of the 
soul. Those in St Matthew are more of an oriental and 
poetical cast, those of Luke have a nearer resemblance 
to real events ; so much so, that the parables of the good 
Samaritan and of the rich man and Lazarus, may be 
taken for narratives of actual occurrences almost as much 
as parables. 

Let us next take the parables that St Matthew and 
St Luke have in common. Here we find the double 
records differ, sometimes more, sometimes less, either in 
the nature or in the fulness of the details that are 



ST LUKE. 213 

peculiar to each. In some cases they are perfectly 
identical. 

Such perfect identity we find between the two Evan- 
gelists in the similitude of the leaven. 

Matth. xiii. 33. Luke xiii. 20, 21. 

Another parable spake he unto And again he said, TVhereunto 

them ; The Kingdom of heaven is shall I liken the kingdom of God ? 

like unto leaven, which a woman It is like leaven, which a woman 

took and hid in three measures of took and hid in three measures of 
meal, till the whole was leavened. 

Here we see that St Luke has made use of St 
Matthew's Gospel, in the way of simple transcription, 
We find, on the contrary, a not insignificant difference 
between the first and third Gospel, in the similitude of 
the lost sheep. 

Matth. xviii. 12, 13. Luke xv. 4-7. 

How think ye ? If a man have What man of you, having au 
an hundred sheep, and one of hundred sheep, if he lose one of 
them be gone astray, doth he not them, doth not leave the ninety 
leave the ninety and nine, and and nine in the wilderness, and go 
goeth into the mountains, and after that which is lost, until he find 
seeketh that which is gone astray? it? And when he hath found it, 
And if so be that he find it, verily he layeth it on his shoulders rejoic* 
I say unto you, he rejoiceth more ing. And when he cometh home,, 
of that sheep, than of the ninety and he calleth together his friends and 
nine which went not astray. ne'ghbours, saying unto them, Re* 

joice with me; for I have found my 
sheep which was lost. I say unto 
you, that likewise joy shall be in 
heaven over one sinner that re- 
penteth, more than over ninety and 
nine just persons, that need no re- 
pentance. 

Here we see in St Luke the similitude brought more 
fully out, and a milder spirit is shewn both in the details 
that are added, and the expressions that are employed, 
What St Matthew speaks of as gone astray, St Luke 
calls lost. The sheep that is found again is laid on the 



214 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



shoulders of the shepherd; his neighbours and friends are 
called together to participate in his joy ; l finally, the re- 
proof is administered to persons possessed with an opinion 
of their own righteousness, as thinking that they need no 
repentance. 

Still greater is the difference, though without preju- 
dice to the identity of the parables in the main, in that 
of the guests at the marriage feast, and that of the 
talents. 



Matth. xxii. 2-14. 
The kingdom of heaven is like 
Unto a certain king, which made a 
marriage for his son, and sent 
forth his servants to call them 
that were bidden to the icedding : 
and they would not come. Again 
he sent forth other servants, say- 
ing, Tell them which are bidden, 
Behold, I have prepared my din- 
ner : my oxen and my fatlings are 
killed, and all things are ready : 
come unto the marriage. But they 
made light of it, and went their 
ways, one to his farm, another to 
his merchandise : and the remnant 
took his servants, and entreated 
them spitefully, and slew them. But 
when the king heard thereof, he was 
wroth: and he sent forth his armies, 
and destroyed those murderers, and 
burned up their city. Then saith he 
to his servants, The wedding is 
ready, but they which were bidden 
were not worthy. Go ye there- 
fore into the highways, and as 
many as ye shall find, bid to the 
marriage. So those servants went 
out into the highways, and gather- 
ed together all as many as they 
found, both bad and good: and the 



LriiE xiv. 16-24. 
A certain man made a great 
supper, and bade many : and sent 
his servant at supper-time to say to 
them that were bidden, Come ; for 
all things are now ready. And 
they all with one consent began to 
make excuse. The first said unto 
him, I have bought a piece of 
ground, and I must needs go and 
see it: I pray thee have me ex- 
cused. And another said, I have 
bought five yoke of oxen, and I go 
to prove them : I pray thee have 
me excused. And another said, I 
have married a wife, and there- 
fore I cannot come. So that ser- 
vant came, and shewed Ms lord 
these things. Then the master of 
the house being angry said to his 
servant, Go out quickly into the 
streets and lanes of the city, and 
bring in hither the poor, and the 
maimed, and the halt, and the 
blind. And the servant said, Lord, 
it is done as thou hast commanded, 
and yet there is room. And the 
lord said unto the servant, Go out 
into the highways and hedges, and 
compel them to come in, that my 
house may be filled. For I say 



1 In the two parables that follow hi St Luke, we find the same demonstrations 
of joy : verses 9 and 10, and verses 23, 25, and 32* 



ST LUKE, 215 

wedding was furnished with guests, unto you, that none of those men 
And when the king came in to see which were bidden shall taste of my 
the guests, he saw there a man supper. 
which had not on a wedding-gar- 
ment : and he saith unto him, 
Friend, how earnest thou in hither 
not having a wedding-garment ? 
And he was speechless. Then said 
the king to the servants, Bind him 
hand and foot, and take him away, 
and cast him into outer darkness ; 
there shall be weeping and gnash- 
ing of teeth. For many are called, 
but few are chosen. 

It will at once be seen that the parable here related is 
in both Gospels fundamentally the same. In both it 
points plainly and decidedly to the preaching of the 
Gospel ; in other words, to the call to enter the kingdom 
of God. That kingdom is likened here, as elsewhere in 
Scripture, to a supper to which many guests are invited, 
who on various pretexts decline the invitation. First of 
all it is the Jews that are invited, but will not come ; and 
in their place others of the motley multitude of mankind, 
and from the streets and the highways, are sent for, and 
with these the house of the host who has provided the 
supper is filled. This groundwork is then filled up by 
the insertion of various particulars in harmony with the 
characteristic tendencies of the two Gospels. In St Luke 
the host is called simply a certain man ; in St Matthew 
it is a king, and a king, too, who makes a marriage feast 
for his son. In St Luke it is his servant that is sent to 
invite the guests ; in St Matthew we have the plural, Ms 
servants. In St Luke the excuses are fully detailed 
(verses 18 and 20) ; St Matthew, on the contrary, gives 
the words of invitation in fuller terms, and in Old Testa- 
ment style. 1 In St Matthew, after the refusal of the 

1 See pages 16-18. 



216 THE tfOUR WITNESSES. 

invited, all sorts of people, good and bad (the respected 
and the despised of this world), are brought in ; in St 
Luke it is only the poor and the wretched of all sorts. 
In St Luke the refusal is punished with the recall of the 
intended honour (verse 24) ; in St Matthew the refusal 
is associated with the spiteful and outrageous treatment 
of the messengers (verse 6), and (not without a prophe- 
tical allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem) the judg- 
ment executed on the authors of that treatment (verse 7). 
The parable in St Luke closes here. What St Matthew 
alone further relates, the discovery and the expulsion of 
the guest without the marriage gar merit , is evidently quite 
a new parable, brought into connexion, in that Evange- 
list's peculiar manner, with that of the invitation to the 
royal marriage feast. 

And now as to the parable of the talents. This, too, 
in its grand outlines, is the same in both Gospels ; yet the 
filling up, as well as the place it occupies, of which we 
have spoken already, 1 is different. 

Matth. xxy\ 14-30. Luke xix. 12-28. 

For the kingdom of heaven is as A certain nobleman went into a 
a man travelling into a far country, far country to receive for himself a 
who called his own servants, and kingdom, and to return. And he 
delivered unto them his goods. And called his ten servants, and delivered 
unto one he gave Jive talents, to them ten pounds, and said unto 
another two, and to another one; them, Occupy till I come. But his 
to every man according to his seve- citizens hated him, and sent a mes- 
ral ability ; and straightway took sage after him, saying, "We will not 
his journey. Then he that had re- have this man to reign over us. 
Ceived the five talents went and 
traded with the same, and made 
them other five talents. And like- 
wise he that had received two, he 
also gained other two. But he that 
had received one went and digged 
in the earth, and hid his lord's 
tttoney. 

1 See page 162* 



ST LUKE. 



217 



After a long time the lord of 
those servants cometh, and reckon- 
eth with them. And so he that 
had received five talents came and 
brought other five talents, saying, 
Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five 
talents : behold, I have gained be- 
sides them five talents more. His 
lord said unto him, TTell done, thou 
good and faithful servant : thou 
hast been faithful over a few things, 
I will make thee ruler over many 
things : enter thou into the joy of 
thy lord. He also that had received 
two talents came and said, Lord, 
thou deliveredst unto me, two talents: 
behold, I have gained two other 
talents besides them. His lord said 
unto him, Well done, good and 
faithful servant ; thou hast been 
faithful over a few things, I will 
make thee ruler over many things : 
enter thou into the joy of thy lord. 
Then he which had received the 
one talent came and said, Lord, 
I knew thee that thou art an hard 
man, reaping where thou hast not 
sown, and gathering where thou 
hast not strawed: And I Avas afraid, 
and went and hid thy talent in the 
earth : lo, there thou hast that is 
thine. His lord answered and said 
unto him, Thou wicked and slothful 
servant, thou knewest that I reap 
where I sowed not, and gather 
where I have not strawed : Thou 
oughtest therefore to have put my 
money to the exchangers, and then 
at my coming I should have received 
mine own with usury. Take there- 
fore the talent from him, and give 
it unto him which hath ten talents. 
For unto every one that hath shall be 
given, and he shall have abundance : 
but from him that hath not shall be 
taken away even that which he hath. 
And cast ye the unprofitable servant 
into outer darkness : there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 



15. And it came to pass, that 
when he was returned, having re- 
ceived the kingdom, then he com- 
manded these servants to be called 
unto him, to whom he had given the 
money, that he might know how 
much every man had gained by 
trading. Then came the first, say- 
ing, Lord, thy pound hath gained 
ten pounds. And he said unto him, 
Well, thou good servant : because 
thou hast been faithful in a very 
little, have thou authority over ten 
cities. And the second came, say- 
ing, Lord, thy pound hath gained 
five pounds. And he said likewise 
to him, Be thou also oxer five cities. 
And another came, saying, Lord, 
behold, here is thy pound, which I 
have kept laid up in a napkin: for 
I feared thee, because thou art an 
austere man : thou takest up that 
thou layedstnot down, and reapest 
that thou didst not sow. And he 
saith unto him, Out of thine own 
mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked 
servant. Thou knewest that I was 
an austere man, taking up that I 
laid not down, and reaping that I 
did not sow : wherefore then gav- 
est not thou my money into the 
bank, that at my coming I might 
have required mine own with usury? 
And he said unto them that stood 
by, Take from him the pound, and 
give it to him that hath ten pounds. 
(And they said unto him, Lord, he 
hath ten pounds.) For I say unto 
3 r ou, That unto every one which 
hath shall be given ; and from him 
that hath not, even that he hath 
shall be taken away from him. 
But those mine enemies, which woidd 
not that I should reign over them, 
bring hither, and slay them before 
me. 



218 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

The main design of the parable, as appears evidently 
enough, is the same in both Gospels. In the details, 
however, it is St Luke who on this occasion introduces the 
subject of our Lord's kingship. Very naturally, inasmuch 
as the similitude according to him (xix. 11) was delivered 
when Jesus was nigh to Jerusalem, and when they thought 
that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. 
On this account our Saviour first desired to make people 
aware that He (the nobleman of the parable) behoved first 
to return to heaven (the far country), there to receive 
his kingdom, and then first to be revealed, as king in 
glory. With this introduction to the parable as found 
in St Luke, we find the conclusion connected (verse 27), 
where we have represented to us the doom pronounced 
on his citizens or fellow-countrymen (the Jews), who 
hated him, and would not have him to rule over them 
(verse 14). St Matthew says nothing here of a king- 
dom, probably because that very idea had been already 
introduced in the parable of the guests invited to the mar- 
riage feast, which he had previously recorded. Further 
differences occur in minute, but not unimportant details. 
St Matthew, with the copiousness peculiar to him, speaks 
of talents, instead of the humbler term pounds used by St 
Luke. There is a difference likewise in the proportion of 
profit gained. In St Matthew the two diligent servants 
doubled the number they had received, whereas in St 
Luke one had increased what he had received tenfold, the 
other fivefold. In St Luke also, in conformity with the 
point from which he starts (verse 12), the recompense of 
the faithful servants extends to ten and five cities (verses 
17, 19). In St Matthew there is an antithesis betwixt 
entering into the joy of their Lord (verses 21-23), and 
(verse 30) the adjudging to outer darkness, where there 
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 



ST LUKE. 



219 



The similitudes common to all three synoptical Evan- 
gelists are only three in number, — that of the sower on 
different sorts of ground, that of the grain of mustard- 
seed, and that of the wicked husbandmen. Here the 
discrepancy between the three Gospels is really yery slight, 
yet it is enough to enable us to recognise in it the pecu- 
liar object and tendency of each of them. First, let us 
take up that of the sower :— 



Matth. xiii. 3-8. 

Behold, a sower went 
forth to sow ; and when 
lie sowed, some seeds 
fell by the way-side, 
and the fowls came and 
devoured them up : 
some fell upon stony 
places, where they had 
not much earth : and 
forthwith they sprung 
up, because they had 
no deepness of earth : 
and when the sun was 
up, they were scorched ; 
and, because they had 
no root, .they withered 
away. And some fell 
among thorns ; and the 
thorns sprung up, and 
choked them: but other 
fell into good ground, 
and brought forth fruit, 
some an hundred-fold, 
some sixty-fold, some 
tliirty-fold. 



Mark iv. 3-8. 

Hearken ; Behold, 
there went out a sower 
to sow : and it came 
to pass, as he sowed, 
some fell by the way- 
side, and the fowls of 
the air came and de- 
voured it up. And 
some fell on stony 
ground, where it had 
not mnch earth ; and 
immediately it sprang 
up, because it had no 
depth of earth : but 
when the sun was up, 
it was scorched ; and, 
because it had no root, 
it withered away. And 
some fell among thorns, 
and the thorns grew up, 
and choked it, and it 
yielded no fruit. And 
other fell on good 
ground, and did yield 
fruit that sprang up 
and increased ; and 
brought forth, some 
thirty, and some sixty, 
and some an hundred. 



Luke viii. 5-8. 

A sower went out to 
sow his seed : and as 
he sowed, some fell by 
the way-side ; and it 
was trodden down, and 
the foAvls of the air de- 
voured it. And some 
fell upon a rock ; and 
as soon as it was sprung 
up, it withered away, 
because it lacked mois- 
ture. And some fell 
among thorns; and the 
thorns sprang up with 
it, and choked it. And 
other fell on good 
ground, and sprang up, 
and bare fruit an hun- 
dred-fold. 



It will be seen that there is yery little difference among 
the three versions of the parable. St Mark, for the most 
part, follows his predecessor. St Luke follows both, but 



220 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



with a notable shortening of the narrative, by leaving out 
more than one detail. Yet even here the one does not 
merely adopt what has been recorded by the other. St 
Mark, as well as St Luke, throw in here and there an 
expression full of meaning and emphasis. Thus, accord- 
ing to the latter, the seed was not only devoured by the 
fowls, but also trodden down of men. Thus, St Mark 
observes that the cholced seed yielded no fruit, and that 
what fell on good ground regularly sprang up and in- 
creased. Thus St Luke shews us the good seed and the 
thorns springing up together. We have already observed 
how St Mark, in speaking of the quantity of the fruit 
produced, not unimpressively reverses the order in St 
Matthew ; 1 while St Luke, with historical compression, 
mentions a hundred-fold only. In the explanation of the 
parable 2 the three Evangelists are, for the most part, 
almost literally alike. 

The similitude of the mustard-seed runs thus in the 
three Gospels : — 



Matth. xiii. 31, 32. 

The kingdom of hea- 
ven is like to a grain of 
mustard-seed, which a 
man took, and sowed in 
his field: which indeed 
is the least of all seeds : 
but when it is grown, 
it is the greatest among 
herbs, and becometh a 
tree, so that the birds 
of the air come and 
lodge in the branches 
thereof. 



Makkiv. 31, 32. 

The kingdom of God 
is like a grain of mus- 
tard-seed, which, when 
it is sown in the earth, 
is less than all the seeds 
that be in the earth : 
but when it is sown, it 
groweth up, and be- 
cometh greater than all 
herbs, and shooteth out 
great branches $ so that 
the fowls of the air may 
lodge under the shadow 
of it. 



Luke xiii. 19. 

The kingdom of God 
is like a grain of mus- 
tard-seed, which a man 
took, and cast into his 
garden ; and it grew* 
and waxed a great tree ; 
and the fowls of the air 
lodged in the branches 
of it. 



1 Pp. 98. 

* Matth. xiii. 18-22 ; Mark iv. 13-20 ; Luke viii. ll-15i 



ST LUKE. 



221 



Here there is almost a literal agreement, and yet neither 
the graphic style of St Mark nor the historic style of St 
Luke belie themselves. In the description given by the 
former, the tree is represented as shooting out great 
branches, and the birds as lodging under its shadow. In 
that given by the latter, the whole similitude is thrown 
into the form of something that once actually happened, 
rather than of a thing of daily occurrence. The seed was 
cast, the birds made their nests in the branches (in the 
past tense 1 ), while the two other Evangelists use the 
present. 

In the similitude of the wicked husbandmen we find 
more difference in the details. 



Matth. xxi. 33. 

There was a certain 
householder, which 
planted a vineyard, awe? 
hedged it round about, 
and digged a winepress 
in it, and built a tower, 
and let it out to hus- 
bandmen, and went into 
a for country : 

34. And when the 
time of the fruit drew 
near, he sent his ser- 
vants to the husband- 
men, that they might 
receive the fruits of it. 



Mark xii. 1. 
A certain man planted 
a vineyard, and set an 
hedge abo»t it, and 
digged a place for the 
wine-fat, and built a 
tower, and let it out to 
husbandmen, and went 
into a far country. 

2. And at the season 
he sent to the husband- 
men a servant, that he 
might receive from the 
husbandmen of the fruit 
of the vineyard. 



35. And the hus- 3. And they caught 
bandmen took his ser- him, and beat him, and 
vants, and beat one, sent him away empty. 
and killed another, and 

stoned another. 

36. Again, he sent 4. And again he sent 
other servants more unto them another ser- 



Luke xx. 9. 

A certain man planted 
a vineyard, and let it 
forth to husbandmen, 
and went into a far 
country for a longtime. 



10. And at the sea- 
son he sent a servant 
to the husbandmen, that 
they should give him 
of the fruit of the vine- 
yard: but the husband- 
men beat him, and sent 
him away empty. 

11. And again he 
sent another servant : 
and they beat him also, 
and entreated him 
shamefully, and sent 
him away empty. 

12. And again he 
sent a third : and they 



1 The Greek aorist. 



222 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



than the first : and they 
clicl unto them likewise. 



37. But last of all 
he sent unto them his 
son, saying, They will 
reverence my son. 



38. But when the 
husbandmen saw the 
son, they said among 
themselves, This is the 
heir ; come, let us kill 
him, and let us seize 
on his inheritance. 

39. And they caught 
him, and cast him out 
of the vineyard, and 
slew him. When the 
lord therefore of the 
vineyard cometh, what 
will he do unto those 
husbandmen ? They 
say unto him, He will 
miserably destroy those 
icicked men, and will 
let out his vineyard 
unto other husband- 
men, which shall ren- 
der him the fruits in 
their seasons. 



vant ; and at him they 
cast stones, and wound- 
ed him in the head, and 
sent him away shame- 
fully handled. 

5. And again he sent 
another ; and him they 
hilled, and many others ; 
beating some, and kill- 
ing some. 

6. Having yet there^ 
fore one son, his well- 
beloved, he sent him 
also last unto them, 
saying, They will reve- 
rence my son. 

7. But those hus- 
bandmen said among 
themselves, This is the 
heir ; come, let us kill 
him, and the inheri- 
tance shall be ours. 



8. And they took 
him, and killed him, 
and cast him out of 
the vineyard. What 
shall therefore the lord 
of the vineyard do ? he 
will come and destroy 
the husbandmen, and 
will give the vineyard 
unto others. 



wounded him also, and 
cast him out, 



13. Then said the 
lord of the vineyard, 
what shall I do ? I 
will send my beloved 
son : it may be they 
will reverence him 
when they see him. 

14. But when the 
husbandmen saw him, 
they reasoned among 
themselves, saying, 
This is the heir : come, 
let us kill him, that 
the inheritance may be 
ours. 

15. So they cast 
him out of the vine- 
yard, and killed him. 
What therefore shall 
the lord of the vine- 
yard do unto them ? 
he shall come and de- 
stroy these husband- 
men, and shall give 
the vineyard to others. 
And when they heard 
it, they said, God for- 
bid. 



Each of the three Evangelists, it will be seen, in the 
differences among them, again maintains his consistency 
in regard to style and tendency. Tims St Luke at once 
(v. 9) leaves out the description of the vineyard, given 



ST LUKE. 223 

minutely by St Matthew and St Mark, contenting him- 
self with the grand outline of the parabolic narrative. 
Thus St Matthew again (v. 34 and 36) adopts the 
plural number, and speaks twice of servants; while St 
Mark and St Luke mention only one, but, on the other 
hand, state that the sending was repeated thrice. We 
have already remarked 1 what is fitted to affect the 
reader in St Mark when he speaks of the sending of the 
son (v. 37) ; St Luke gives, My beloved son. In relat- 
ing the repulse and ill treatment of the servants that 
were sent, St Mark runs most into details : it is only in 
his Gospel that we read (v. 4) of one of the servants 
being wounded in the head; and both St Matthew and 
he speak of the stoning, not perhaps without prophetical 
allusion to the lot that awaited the witnesses of Jesus 
Christ himself. St Luke (v. 12) bears principally on the 
rejection. The expulsion of the Son from the vineyard 
is given in details by all the three. St Matthew (v. 41) 
puts the condemnation of the enemies in the mouth of 
the Pharisees ; while St Luke, on the contrary, gives the 
very exclamation they uttered, God forbid!'' 2 

Let us now glance over the results of our now con- 
cluded review of St Lu'ke's Gospel, and we are confident 
that the following leading points will be brought home to 
the conviction of our readers. 

The person who penned the third of our Gospels, can 
be no other than he whom all Christian antiquity from 
the very first, without a single dissentient voice, has 
pronounced him to be : Luke, a physician of Gentile 
descent and Greek education, a proselyte to Judaism, 
and afterwards, as a Christian disciple, the beloved 

1 Page 98. s Page 32. 



224 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

companion and fellow-labourer of Paul, the apostle to 
the Gentiles. 

From his fellow Evangelists he is distinguished by the 
eminently historical character, as well of the plan and 
contents as of the whole style and manner of his two 
writings — the Acts of the Apostles being to be regarded 
as forming one continuous whole with his Gospel. 

It is true that nowhere does he introduce himself 
personally as physician, proselyte, and Christian from 
among the Gentiles, whether by name, or by mentioning 
his own labours ; yet by this self-concealment, this indi- 
vidual personality is all the more powerfully brought out 
in all that stands recorded by him. Thus we have found 
St Paul's doctrine and preaching reappear, as it were, in 
a historical form, in St Luke. Thus we recognise the 
proselyte from the heathen brought over to Christ, both 
in the delicacy and kindly feelings with which he touches 
every thing Israelitish, and in the manner in which he 
sets forth the calling of the Gentiles to the communion of 
Israel's God and Messiah. The physician reveals himself 
not only in some traits that betoken a man familiar with 
diseases and their cures, but also, in his entire conception 
of the good news of salvation and grace, in his whole 
view of the person of the Lord Jesus. This same Jesus, 
the ever to be praised Lord and Saviour, we have seen, 
in this third Gospel, set before us very distinctly as the 
Almighty Physician of soul and body ; in close connexion, 
moreover, with that Israelitish title given to the God- 
man, as the merciful, compassionate High Priest, anointed 
with the Holy Ghost, and going about every where doing 
good. Here we have seen him, in an ampler diversity of 
instances than any where else in the Gospels, surrounded 
with all manner of suffering and necessitous persons — 



ST LUKE. 225 

the wretched, the despised, and the weak. These charac- 
teristic marks in St Luke's Gospel we find recurring, ever 
and anon, even in the details of numerous parables as 
they have been recorded by him. Finally, we have 
seen in St Luke, the historian not only of Jesus Christ in 
the flesh, but also of the Holy Ghost, by whom He, the 
blessed seed of the woman, was conceived, and whom 
He, after his own return to heaven, sent forth from the 
Father as the Comforter whom He had promised. 

Here we close our review of the third of our Gospels. 
The fourth and last now demands our attention : it is 
the testimony of the bosom friend, no longer of Peter or 
of Paul, but of — the Lord. 



226 THE FOUR WITNESSES, 



V. ST JOHN. 



When, passing from the Gospel of St Matthew, one 
takes up and finishes a review of the much more elabo- 
rated writings of St Mark and St Luke, it might seem as 
if the works of the two Apostolical disciples more or less 
eclipse that of the Apostle, and as if the Gospels of the 
two heathen converts, in point of fulness and interest at 
least, surpass that of the witness out of Israel. No 
doubt such an idea has but a show of truth : it can hare 
no solid ground to rest upon. Each of the Gospels has 
its own proper value ; each of the Evangelists his own 
special gift and peculiar excellence. The Gospel of St 
Matthew, such as we have described it, the mother Gos- 
pel, the Gospel that breathes the spirit of the prophets, 
will ever retain its high importance among the sacred 
four ; the writer s Apostolic character, even after a 
comparison with his two successors, remains a special 
guarantee of the truth of the testimony. And jet one 
cannot but feel that, even with the apostolic testimony of 
St Matthew, a second testimony from one of the twelve 
is desirable ; and that the harmony will be more com- 
plete and delightful, if, instead of being closed with the 
composition of a companion of St Peter or of St Paul, 
it should be crowned, as it were, with the testimony 



ST JOHN. 227 

of an immediate disciple — a highly privileged apostle of 
Jesus Christ. In the writer of the fourth of the Gospels, 
then, we again meet with an Apostle, one of the three 
specially selected from the chosen twelve ; and again, 
that very one of the three who was the specially beloved 
and chosen bosom disciple. It is John, whom we have 
seen in the days of our Lord's sojourn upon this earth, 
admitted and called, along with his brother James, and 
with Peter, to behold the restoration to life of the daughter 
of Jairus, to witness the transfiguration of their Master 
on the Mount, and afterwards, to be present at the scene 
of our Lord's agony in Gethsemane. It is John, who, 
while he sat at supper, leant with affectionate confi- 
dence on the bosom of his Lord ; to whom, as he 
stood by the cross, his Lord's mother was confided, to 
be regarded thenceforward as his own. It is John, 
whom first, after the descent of the Holy Ghost, we 
find, along with St Peter, exercising his apostolical func- 
tions in signs, and wonders, and the laying on of hands 
in the name of the Lord ; who along with St Peter, and 
St James, the Lord's brother, is called by St Paul a 
pillar of the Church at Jerusalem. Yet not a single 
word remains to us of his preaching during all those clays 
subsequent to the return of Jesus to heaven. It was a long- 
while after that, that the Churches first received from him 
his Epistles, his Gospel, and one other most sublime writ- 
ing from his pen. More than half a century had elapsed 
since John, the son of Zebedee, was directed by another 
John, the son of Zacharias, to the Lamb that taketh away 
the sin of the world, and followed him. The Benjamin 
among the twelve Apostles was now a patriarch far 
advanced in life. His fellow-disciples and contempo- 
raries were no more. James his brother had fallen a 



228 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

victim, long before, to the violence of Herod ; Peter had 
died upon the cross ; Paul had been slain by the sword ; 
and the other apostles, each at his post, in various parts 
of the world. Then came the destruction of Jerusalem. 
The sacrifices had ceased to be offered ; Israel had 
become a people without a king, ivithout priests, without 
sacrifices, ivithout ephod and teraphim, without a coun- 
try. The line of demarcation between Christians con- 
verted from Judaism, and Christians converted from 
heathenism, was effaced. Jerusalem, utterly destroyed, 
was no longer the city either of the Temple and Syna- 
gogue, or of the first Apostolic Church. The great cities 
of heathendom had now become the mother-churches of 
Christendom ; Ephesus, among others, where the beloved 
disciple, as elder of the Church, closed his long pro- 
tracted life. Either while still residing in the midst 
of that Church, or during his banishment to the island of 
Patmos, he took up the pen for the last time. He lays his 
testimony before the Churches to the remotest ages, under 
the guidance of that Holy Spirit who had been promised 
to him as well as to the rest, to lead him into all truth, to 
bring all things to his remembrance, and also to shew him 
the things that were to come} His first writing is histo- 
rical; with it he winds up and completes the Gospel 
testimony of the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection 
of our Lord. His last writing is prophetical; and in it 
he connects the last things with the first — the prophecies 
of the Old Testament with the language of the New, for 
the revelation of the final object of all — our Lord's 
second coming, and the establishment of his glorious 
kingdom, as in heaven so likeivise on earth. 

As the author was a special object of his Master's 

1 John xir. xv. xvi, 



st JOHtf. 229 

choice, so is his Gospel a select and exquisite production. 
It is not like any of the three that preceded it, and, never- 
theless, it is one and the same testimony with them to Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, come into the world, crucified for 
sin, and gone back to glory. It is the same testimony ; 
but, like the sun seen in the sky of Italy or Greece, 
brighter and more glorious than as it appears in any of 
his fellow-witnesses. It is a voice from heaven ; it is 
the language of a seer. It is a Gospel from the height, 
and likewise from the depth. 

From the height ! It does not start, like that of St 
Mark, from the baptism in Jordan, nor like St Matthew's, 
from our Lord's descent from Abraham and David, nor 
like St Luke's, from the first promises regarding our Lord 
and his foreruuner ; no, but from a period before the 
world was. Thus does he characterise his testimony in 
the Epistle (1 John, i. I, 2) : That which was from the 
beginning, which ive have heard, which we have seen with 
our eyes, which ive have looked upon, and our hands have 
handled, of the Word of Life (Gr. rbv \6yov rf^ £077?, the 
living AVord) ; for the Life was manifested, and we have 
seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal 
Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. 

Thus does he characterise that testimony in the Gospel 
itself, in its opening words : Ix the begixxixg was the 
AVord (ch. i. 1). And that Word the Gospel of John 
defines for us as it was before all things in His uncreated 
divine nature : it was in the beginning with God, and it 
teas God (i. 1). Following out the golden thread of that 
supreme glory from this point through the whole of his 
Apostolical writings, he has preserved for us the testi- 
monies uttered by the mouth of Jesus himself respecting 
his eternal Godhead : Before Abraham was, I am (viii, 



230 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

58) ; I and the Father are one (x. 30) ; he that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father (xiy. 9) ; in perfect har- 
mony with which stand the words addressed to Jesus by 
St Thomas in that same Gospel (xx. 28), My Lord and 
my God! and again, in the book of the Reyelation, the 
testimony of our glorious Redeemer respecting himself 
(i. 17): i" am the First and the Last, 

And in like manner as this Gospel of the son of 
Zebedee observes anji describes all things from the 
highest point of yiew, so also does he contemplate them 
in their depth, and present them to us again in all the 
fulness of their truth and reality in ordinary life. No 
one has testified to the reality of our Lord's becoming 
man with an expression at once of such depth of meaning, 
and of such simplicity : The Word was made flesh. 
No one shews this Word to us, when come into this 
world, when manifested in human flesh, so fully, and in 
such a multiplicity of aspects, as St John, in contact and 
controversy with men, arguing with sinful men, enduring 
the contumelies of sinful men (called a Samaritan, and 
one that hath a devil, yiii. 48) ; the hand of men inces- 
santly lifted up against him, to seize him — to stone him. 

And yet even here we find an indescribable glory 
encircling Jesus in all that he suffers as well as all that 
he says. It is as if the exceeding brightness, of which 
St John was a witness on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
threw life and lustre into all his delineations of the 
Redeemer. On every subject that he touches, his 
expressions are characterised by a festive sublimity, a 
tone of celestial elevation. What is called conversion by 
his predecessors, is with him the nevj birth, the being born 
of God; the crucifixion is the lifting up as of a sacrifice ; 
the Crucified is called the Lamb. Under that last name 



ST JOHN. 231 

especially, the book of Revelation worships and glorifies 
the Son of God, who was slain for the sins of the world. 

The Gospel and the Revelation of John ! the first 
things and the last. The first coming of Jesus Christ in 
the flesh, witnessed and described by the disciple who, at 
the table of the last feast, lay as a youthful follower on 
his breast ; the second coining of Jesus, seen in visions, 
and described in prophetical scenes, by the same disciple 
in his extreme old age. In both he glorifies, both in 
heaven and on earth, Him who is the First and the Last, 
the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. 

The Gospel and the Revelation ! — a harmonious and 
glorious testimony to Him who was already beheld in his 
eternal kingdom with the marks on his body of the wounds 
by which he accomplished the atonement, in like manner 
as he bore, during his humiliation on earth, the glory of 
the Godhead in Ins essential being, and manifested it in 
words and works. What pen could bestow both these 
writings upon us but that of him who, when an old man 
in Patmos, recognised that Master whom he had once 
seen with his own eyes suffering death on the cross, — in 
the King of kings, seated far above all heavens, and who, 
though thus changed from what he once had been, could not 
separate a single trace of his completed sufferings on this 
earth from those splendours of the Godhead which irra- 
diate that Lord of lords in heaven ? The Gospel of the 
Word made flesh ! — the Revelation of the glory, and of the 
kingdom, and of the coming of the Lamb that was slain ! 
This the disciple whom Jesus loved was honoured to 
write before entering into the rest of his Lord. 

Such, at the very threshold of our fourth Gospel- 
survey, are a few of the traits that naturally suggest them- 



232 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

selves as indicative of the peculiar character of a writer 
who, in all that he has recorded, makes himself known to 
us as an eyewitness, as a trusted bosom friend, as a most 
enlightened minister and seer, as one before whose eyes, 
while he stood on the brink of eternity, the great spec- 
tacle of salvation appeared in all the glory of its truth. 
The reader may possibly fear that, in this short review, 
we are about to give him rather a poetical representation 
than a satisfactory demonstration of the truth which we 
would here establish in the face of the infidelity of the 
age in which we live. If so, let him follow, with an atten- 
tion all the more severe, the very simple and prosaic 
analysis which we have undertaken, and from which both 
the genuineness and the divine inspiration of this, as well 
as of the other Gospels, will appear. Here, too, the 
method of observation and comparison will, we are con- 
fident, prove the most likely to conduct us to our point, 
and the most convincing in its all-important results. 

We may assume the fourth of our Evangelical writings 
to be fresh in the recollection of all our readers. 

On comparing this recollection with the impression left 
on us by the three synoptical Gospels, we must at once 
be sensible that our fourth Gospel has something in it 
powerfully distinctive, something profoundly illustrative, 
something that takes a strong hold on our minds. There 
are here, as in the other Gospel writings, historical inci- 
dents taken from the life, and sufferings, and resurrec- 
tion of Jesus Christ. But no sooner do we enter upon 
it, than we find something more than the artless and child- 
like simplicity of St Matthew's narrative ; more than the 
rapidity and terseness of St Mark's record ; more than 
the calm and flowing historical stvle of St Luke. With 



ST JOHN. 233 

that artlessness, and that terseness, and that calmness, 
there is here mingled a higher and more elevated tone — 
a tone derived from the monuments of the remotest sacred 
antiquity, as well as from the hidden depths of the most 
profound theology ; a tone, reminding us sometimes of 
the Mosaic account of the creation, sometimes of the vise 
sayings of Solomon, sometimes akin even to the later 
theology of Jewish-Alexandrine philosophers. Let us 
but read and compare. Moses had said : In the begin- 
ning God created the heaven and the earth ; and John 
says, in the beginning was (rjv) the Word. By him were 
all things made (eyevero) ; and without him was not any 
thing made that ivas made (eyevero ovSev o yeyove). The 
Supreme Wisdom had said in Solomon (Prov. viii. 22), 
Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before 
his works of old. I have been set up (anointed) from 
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 
When there were no dejjths, I ivas brought forth; before 
the mountains were settled, before the hills ivas I brought 
forth. Then I was with him as a nursling, and I ivas 
daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. And of 
the Word, says St John, that it was in the beginning with 
God, that the world teas made by it ; and that the only 
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath re- 
vealed the Father unto us. The philosophy of Philo placed 
a Logos (Word), a second god (Sevrepos 6 eh), beside the 
eternal God. St John, sifting the fundamental truth from 
human error, acknowledges and teaches the existence of 
that Word with God, but not as a second or fellow-^oc/ ; 
no, but as very God, and anon (verse 14) as manifested 
in the flesh. Thus the opening statements, and the pre- 
vailing tone of our fourth Gospel, indicate quite a new 
element in the Evangelical records ; they indicate a Gospel, 



234 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

not merely of a narrative character, but doctrinal also, and 
full of divine philosophy. Here we have not only a his- 
torical testimony, but also, for the first time in the Gospels, 
an Apostolical theology. 

And this peculiar tone and stamp are intimately con- 
nected with the whole object of this Gospel. While the 
synoptic Gospels only link narratives together, without 
remark, elucidation, or parenthesis, our fourth Evangelist 
pauses, as it were, at every turn, at one time to give a 
reason, at another time to fix the attention, to deduce 
consequences, or make applications, or to give utterance 
to the language of praise. Thus, when (ii. 19) he records 
the saying of Jesus : Destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will raise it up again, he follows it up with the 
explanation (verse 21) : But he spake of the temple of his 
body, and connects it (verse 22) with another striking 
circumstance, namely, that the disciples first bethought 
themselves of this saying of their Master's after he was 
risen from the dead. Thus, after having stated at the 
game place (verse 23) that many at Jerusalem believed 
in the name of Jesus, he goes on to remark that Jesus did 
not commit himself unto them (verse 24), and this (verse 
25) because he hiew all men, and needed not that any 
should testify of man: for he himself hiew ivhat was in 
man, Thus, after having (hi. 14, 15) related the words 
of Jesus to Nicodemus, that as Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up: that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but 
have eternal life, he immediately, and with hardly any 
perceptible transition, follows it up with those striking 
evangelical declarations, possessing the character partly of 
powerful preaching, partly of a beautiful burst of praise I 



^ 






ST JOHN. 235 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, bid 
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the 
world to condemn the world; bid that the world through 
him might be saved. He that believeth in him is not con- 
demned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, 
because he hath not believed in the name of the only be- 
gotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, &c. 
Anon (verses 22, 23), he interjects an explanatory state- 
ment that Jesus and John were both baptizing at that 
time; for, says he (verse 24), John teas not yet cast into 
prison. Subsequently, in a parenthesis of the same sort, 
he explains how he means the baptizing by Jesus to be 
understood (iv. 1, 2) : When therefore the Lord knew how 
the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized 
more disciples than John (though Jesus himself baptized 
not, but his disciples), he left Judcea, and departed again 
into Galilee. When Jesus met with the Samaritan woman, 
our Evangelist again explains how Jesus could go to her 
for a drink of water (iv. 8) : For his disciples were gone 
away unto the city to buy meat. When, subsequently, 
the Lord returned to Cana in Galilee, it recurs to the 
Evangelist's recollection that this was the place where, 
shortly before, the water had been changed into wine (verse 
45). On another occasion he by a short parenthesis 
notices the progress made by Nicodemus in the faith, 
when that leader in Israel publicly reprimanded his col- 
leagues on account of then* opposition to Jesus (vii. 50). 
Nicodemus (he that came to jesus by xight, being one 
of them) saith unto them, Doth our law judge any man 
before it hear him. and know what he doethf In like 
manner, differing in this entirely from his three prede- 
cessors, he steps aside for the purpose of explaining who 



236 THE FOtJK WITKESSES. 

the Mary of Bethany was, in the parenthesis (xi. 2) : It 
was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, 
and wiped his feet with her hair. After mentioning the 
remarkable saying of Caiaphas, That one man must die for 
the people, that the whole nation perish not, he emphati- 
cally calls attention to the peculiar connexion between 
that saying and the high office of the person who uttered 
it: And this spake he, not of himself , hut being high priest 
that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that 
nation; and then he adds, of himself, the following ex- 
planation and extension of what was said : And not for 
that nation only, but that also he should gather together 
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad (xi. 
49-52). He afterwards, in the way likewise of paren- 
thesis and explanation, recurs to this Balaamite prophecy. 
When he represents our Lord in the history of his pas- 
sion (xviii. 13) as brought first before Annas, and after 
that before Caiaphas, the high priest for that year, he goes 
on to say (verse 14), Now Caiaphas was he which gave 
counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man 
should die for the people. Our fourth Gospel is rich above 
all in expositions (always in the way of parenthesis and 
remark) of the words spoken by Jesus himself. Thus 
(vii. 37-39), when its author records our Saviour's excla- 
mation in the temple, on the last day of the feast of 
tabernacles, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and 
drinh, he immediately follows it up with the remark, But 
this spalce he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him 
should receive. In like manner (xi. 11-13), where we 
are told that Jesus had said of Lazarus, when dead, that 
he slept, and the disciples had remarked upon that, Lord, 
if he sleep he shall do well, there immediately follows the 
Evangelist's elucidation, Hoivbeit Jesus spake of his death / 



st john. 237 

but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 
And at the close of this Gospel (xxi. 18, 19), after com- 
municating the words of our Lord to St Peter, When thou 
wast young, thou girdedst thyself and walkedst whither 
thou wouldest : but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch 
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
thee whither thou woiddest not, he at once solves the 
enigma involved in the prediction by saying (verse 19), 
This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify 
God. The words of Jesus to the disciple whom he loved 
are given in like manner in that same chapter (verses 
20-23) with an explanation of them, and correction of 
a mistake that had prevailed among the brethren with 
respect to the future lot of that disciple. 

These, out of many examples, may suffice to shew this 
peculiarity of our fourth Gospel, that it proceeds upon 
the principle of not merely presenting a narrative of occur- 
rences, but also of giving explanations, remarks, elucida- 
tions, and arguments. Hence that multitude of paren- 
theses, indicated by the words now (Se), and then (ovv) or 
therefore (ha tovto), which we find in this Gospel, and 
which, of themselves, give it quite a peculiar colour when 
compared with the synoptical. The reader may further 
compare ch. i. v. 18 ; vi. 22-24 ; ix. 22 ; xi. 5, 18, 30 ; 
xii. 37-43; xviii. 2, 3-24, 28; xix. 35; xx. 30, 31 ; xxi. 
12, 24, 25. 

Intimately connected with the above peculiarity of plan, 
there is yet another by which this is distinguished from the 
other Gospels. As we have already remarked, it gives 
us no connected narrative of our Lord's doings and say- 
ings, but rather a choice selection of the most remarkable 
tokens of his divine majesty, followed up very fully by 



238 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the reflections and doctrines suggested by those wonderful 
occurrences. We find only six of our Lord's miracles re- 
corded in this Gospel ; but these are all of the most remark- 
able kind, and surpass the rest in depth, specialty of appli- 
cation, and fulness of meaning. Of these six there is only 
one that we find in the other three Gospels — that of the 
multiplication of the loaves. That miracle, chiefly, it would 
seem, on account of the important instructions of which it 
furnished the occasion (chap, vi.), is here recorded anew. 
The five other tokens of divine power to which we 
allude, are distinguished from among the many that are 
known to us from being recorded in the three other Gos- 
pels, by their furnishing a still higher display of power 
and command over the ordinary laws and course of nature. 
Thus we find recorded here the first of all the miracles 
that Jesus wrought : the changing of water into wine at 
the marriage-feast — that of the son of the nobleman 
of Capernaum (iv. 48-54), cured by our Lord at a distance 
from Cana, at Capernaum; afterwards, of the numerous 
cures of the lame and the paralytic by the word of Jesus, 
only one : that of the man who had suffered from an infir- 
mity thirty and eight years (chap, v.) Anon, out of the 
many cures performed on the blind, we have only one in- 
stance, but that is the case of a person who had been born 
blind (chap, ix.) In fine, we have the restoration of 
Lazarus to life, not from a death-bed, like the daughter 
of Jairus; not from a bier for the dead, like the young 
man of Nain, but from the grave, when, having lain buried 
there for four days, he had already begun to sink into 
corruption (chap, xi.) Lastly, from among the signs and 
wonders which Jesus did while still upon the earth after 
his resurrection, and which are nowhere else recorded by 
the Evangelists, we have one example in the miraculous 



st john. 239 

draught of fishes on the sea of Tiberias (xxi.), when the 
disciples, at the command of their risen Lord, had threwn 
out the net on the right side of the ship, and Simon Peter 
went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an 
hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so 
many, yet was not the net broken. 

Yet, as we hare remarked, all these signs in our fourth 
Gospel furnish occasion chiefly for communicating the 
reasonings, discourses, and conversations of Jesus, alike 
with friends and foes, with his disciples and with the 
multitude. The miracle at the marriage-feast of Cana 
is recorded not for its own sake alone, but also for the 
sake of the weighty words that passed between Jesus and 
his mother, and between them and the servants at the 
feast, before his manifesting his glory at that place. The 
cure of the invalid at Bethesda having been performed 
on the Sabbath-day, leads, in like manner, not (as re- 
peatedly happens in the case of the other Evangelists) 
to' a single saying, but to a whole series of statements 
and instructions from the Saviour, respecting himself and 
his relation to the Father (ch. v.) To the account of 
the multiplication of the loaves, there is here annexed 
the sublime doctrine taught by Jesus at Capernaum, by 
which, leading off men's thoughts from the earthly and 
the visible, he bids the multitudes which were following 
him only for the sake of the meat that perisheth : labour 
for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, and 
declares of himself : / am the bread of life. The open- 
ing of the eyes of the man that had been blind from his 
birth, is still less confined to a simple statement of the 
miracle, and mentioned for its own sake ; but appears 
with all the more important circumstances attending it, 
and especially with all the animated dialogues that took 



240 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

place between Jesus and the man whom he had cured— 
between the latter and the Pharisees — between the Jews 
arid the man's parents on that occasion. The restoration 
of Lazarus to life, in like manner, presents a copious and 
ample narrative, not only of the miracle itself, but also 
of all that passed on the occasion between Jesus and his 
disciples — between Jesus and the two sisters of the de- 
ceased — between these again and the Jews who came to 
comfort them— then between the Pharisees, the chief 
priests, and finally Caiaphas ; while a little after (xii. 1 7) 
our last Evangelist connects that miraculous event with 
the supper at Bethany, and our Lord's entrance into 
Jerusalem, from Bethphage. 

Thus, then, every where throughout this Gospel the 
Lord speaks; a remarkably appropriate distinction in a 
Gospel which may be said to bear on its very title — The 
Word. With a fulness which we find in no other Evan- 
gelist, the Evangelist Apostle St John has preserved for 
us consecutive sayings and lengthened conversations of 
Jesus with his disciples, with the multitudes, with his 
adversaries, and with interesting individual souls. We 
have already called attention to those which were ex- 
changed on each occasion of a miracle being wrought, 
and which threw the clearest light on the object for 
which it was designed, and the depth of meaning it 
bore. Not less copious and full of sublime truth, is 
our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus on the new birth, 
and the lifting up on the cross ; as also that w T ith the 
Samaritan woman, who, by means of seven questions and 
answers, became captive to the faith in that Saviour not 
of the Jews only but also of the world (ch. iv.) : that 
with the Jews, on the occasion of the last day of the 



ST JOHX. 241 

feast of tabernacles (ch. vii. viii.) The last instructions, 
promises, and predictions to the disciples, on the night in 
which the Saviour was betrayed, are recorded here with a 
fulness (ch. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi.) to which there is nothing 
to be compared in the other three Gospels. Finally, 
whereas in those Gospels we find but here and there a 
single exclamation addressed by Jesus to God his Father, 
we haye in the Gospel of St John that solemn and richly 
developed prayer at the commencement of the great night 
and day of his passion, and which, known by the name of 
our Lord's intercessory prayer, comprehends at once an ad- 
dress to the Father, and a declaration of the sublimest truths 
and the most precious promises to believers of all ages. 

In that prayer, in all the discourses held with his dis- 
ciples and people of every condition, we find opened for us 
in this Gospel a treasury of sublime truths respecting the 
very person of our Lord — his oneness with the Father — 
his mission from the Father* — his love to men, to his 
own — the intimate fellowship and spiritual unity that 
sinful men shall enjoy with him through faith, under 
the revelation and mighty energies of the Holy Ghost, 
whom he was to send in his stead — and so forth. In 
no other Gospel does the Son testify more directly, or 
repeatedly, concerning himself. In no other Gospel, 
when God is spoken of, does the name of Father, the 
Father, my Father, recur so very often, in its special and 
exclusive relation to Jesus, as he himself here distin- 
guishes that transcendent, and to himself peculiar rela- 
tionship, from that which, by Him, and in Him the 
Mediator, God desires to sustain with the children of men. 
I ascend unto my Father, and youe Father (xx. 17). 
The nature of that relationship of the Father to the Son, 
and of the Son to the Father, he explains in this Gospel 

Q 



242 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

as he does nowhere else. His equality with the Father 
(v. 1 7), My Father workeih hitherto, and I work ; 
which the Jews at that instant understood so well, that 
their animosity was all the more inflamed on that 
account (v. 18) : Therefore the Jews sought the more 
to hill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, 
but said also that God was his Father, making himself 
equal with God (taov eavrbv nroioiv tw Qeoy) ; whereupon 
our Saviour proceeds to testify of himself so much the 
more strongly : Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son 
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father 
do : for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the 
Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and 
sheweth him all things that himself doeth ; and he shall 
shew him greater ivorks than these, that ye may marvel. 
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth 
them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment 
unto the Son : that all men should honour the Son, even 
as they honour the Father: He that honoureth not the 
Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him, — His 
oneness with the Father (x. 28-30), And I give them 
(my sheep) eternal life; and they shall never perish, 
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, 
which gave them me, is greater than all; and none is able 
to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my 
Father are one ; which again was clearly understood by 
the Jews to be a declaration of his proper Godhead : 
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him, saying, 
For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy ; 
and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. — 
His dwelling in the Father, and the Father in him 
(xiv. 11) : Believe me that I am in the Father, and the 



ST JOHN. 243 

Father m me: and (xvii. 21) : That they all may be 
one; as thou, Father, art in me — / in them, and thou 
in me ; but we have also his no less real oneness, as the 
Son of man with men, than as Son of God with God. 
Therefore (and here there is a depth in the expression 
which we do not remark in any of the other Gospels) he 
employs equally with men, as with God his Father, that 
word which implies essential likeness and oneness of being: 
We, us ; — in speaking to men, Our friend Lazarus 
sleepeth (xi. 11) ; — to God (xvii. 22), We are one; and 
elsewhere (xiv. 23), If a man love me, he ivill keep my 
words : and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him. But the spiri- 
tual oneness that subsists through faith, between Jesus 
and his own true disciples of all ages, as between the 
head and members of the selfsame body, he expresses 
in this very Gospel, in a manner no less special and 
profoundly impressive (xv. 1, 4, 5), I am the true vine, — 
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear 
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine ; no more can ye, 
except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the 
branches : he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same 
bringeth forth much fruit; for ivithout me ye can do 
nothing. And elsewhere (vi. 48-57), / am that bread 
of life. He that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 
And of the Holy Ghost, he testifies in discourses of a like 
deeply impressive character, under the title of Comforter, 
a term which nowhere else occurs in the New Testament 
(xiv. 16, 26) : And I will pray the Father, and he shall 
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
for ever ; — the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom 
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what- 



244 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

soever I have said unto you ; and elsewhere, under an 
image, and that image borrowed from the Old Testament 
prophecies, and which we find occurring again at the 
close of the Book of the Revelation (vii. 37, 39) : If any 
man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that 
helieveth in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
water. [But this spake he of the Spirit, &c.) And 
(iy. 14), But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him, shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall 
give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up 
into everlasting life. Compare Isaiah lv. 1, xii. 3, and 
Rev. xxi. 17. 

And in like manner, as our Lord in this Gospel reveals 
his manifold majesty, and the depths of his love and 
grace, very much in discourses and reasonings, so do mere 
men also make themselves known to us here chiefly by 
their words. By means of some few of the sayings re- 
corded of them in this Gospel, we have many persons of 
all sorts brought, as it were, immediately before us in all 
the individuality of their characters, natural endowments, 
rank, and condition in life. Thus, for example, the 
vocation, the sentiments, and whole personal bearing of 
the Baptist in relation to Jesus (i. 20-36) : And he con- 
fessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 
I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, 
whom ye know not: He it is, who, coming after me, is 
preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy 
to unloose. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away 
the sin of the world ! This is he of. whom I said, After 
me cometh a man which is preferred before me : for he 
was before me. And I knew him not : but that he should be 
made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with 
water. I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a 



st john. 245 

dove, and it abode upon him. And I Icneivhim not : but 
he that sent me to baptize ivith water, the same said unto 
me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and 
remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with 
the Holy Ghost And I saw, and bare record that this is 
^the Son of God; and afterwards (iii. 27, 31) : A man 
can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven, 
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the 
Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the 
bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, 
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because 
of the bridegrooms voice : this my joy therefore is fid- 
filled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that 
cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth 
is earthly, and speaketh of the earth : he that cometh 
from heaven is above all. Thus, in a couple of exclama- 
tions, we have expressed to us the entire change of mind 
and heart in the upright Nathanael, effected by a single 
sentence from the lips of Jesus (i. 46, 49) : And Natha- 
nael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of 
Nazareth ? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus 
saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold 
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael 
saith unto him, Whence know est thou me? Jesus 
answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called 
thee, tvhen thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee. 
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art 
the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Thus have 
we the mingled state of doubt, longing after truth, and 
spiritual ignorance in Nicodemus, in that simply natural 
reply to our Lord's announcement of the necessity of the 
new birth (iii. 4) : How can a man be born ivhen he is 
old? Can he enter the second time into his mothers 



246 THE F0UB, WITNESSES, 

womb, and be born f Thus, at another place, the malig- 
nant sneer of the Jews of Capernaum on Jesus declaring 
that he was to give his own flesh for the life of the 
world (vi. 52) : How can this man give us his flesh to 
eat? Thus, the slow transition from a purely carnal 
conception of the Saviour's words to confidence and* 
faith in his person, in the woman of Samaria, when the 
Lord speaks to her of the fountain of living waters 
(iv. 15) : Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, 
neither come hither to draw. Thus, the impression made 
by the person and the words of Jesus on the officers that 
were sent out against him (vii. 46) : Never man spake 
like this man. Thus the scowling enmity of the multi- 
tudes on the rebuke administered by Jesus (vii. 19, 20) : 
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you 
keepeth the law f Why go ye about to kill me f The 
people answered and said, Thou hast a devil : who goeth 
about to kill thee f And shortly before, the divided sen- 
timents of the multitude on the subject of Jesus and his 
doctrine (vii. 12) : And there was much murmuring 
among the people concerning him : for some said, He is 
a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the 
people. At a later period, we have the tact shewn by 
the parents of the man who was born blind, when the 
Pharisees inquired of them about their son who had been 
cured (ix. 20-22) : His parents answered them and 
said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born 
blind : but by what means he now seeth, we know not ; 
or who hath opened his eyes, we know not : he is of age, 
ask him : he shall speak for himself These words spake 
his parents, because they feared the Jews. Then, the 
consentaneous faith of the two sisters of Lazarus, in the 
strikingly consonant exclamation, first of Martha, after- 



st john. 247 

wards of Mary (xi. 21, 32) : Lord, if thou hadst been 
here, my brother had not died. Thus we have presented 
to ns all that was desponding, hard to be convinced, and 
yet reflective and resolute, in the character of the Apostle 
St Thomas, when Jesus announced to his disciples the 
journey to Bethany, notwithstanding the hostile projects 
of the Jews (xi. 1 6) : Let us also go, that ive may die 
ivith him ; and at the last supper, on Jesus saying (xiv. 
14) : Arid whither I go ye know, and the way ye know 
(verse 5), Thomas saith unto him, Lord, ive know not 
whither thou goest; and how can ive know the wayf and 
in that most important appearance of the risen Saviour, 
first to the Apostles without Thomas, afterwards to the 
eleven, including him (xx. 24-28) : But Thomas, one of 
the twelve, called Diclymus, was not with them when Jesus 
came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We 
have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I 
shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my 
finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into 
his side, I will not believe. A nd after eight days again 
his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then 
came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, 
and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, 
Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach 
hither thy hand, and behold my side : and be not faith- 
less, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto 
him, My Lord and my God ! Thus, among many other 
examples, we have the simplicity of Mary Magdalen's 
zeal and affection, when, though really addressing her 
risen Master, yet, thinking she was speaking to the gar- 
dener, she exclaimed (xx. 15), Sir, if thou have borne 
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will 
take him await. 



248 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

It could not fail that a Gospel which delineates persons 
and things principally by means of the very words spoken, 
and conversations held by those persons, must have quite 
a peculiar aspect, and must make quite a distinct impres- 
sion, when compared with its three predecessors. This 
peculiar character, however, manifests itself still more 
strongly when we proceed to scrutinize and dissect those 
many exquisite beauties of expression and phraseology 
which, like gems, adorn this whole Gospel, and by which 
it comes to be distinguished in its details, not less than in 
its general plan and arrangement. We shall now give 
some illustrations of this in the case of words that occur 
in this Gospel either exclusively, or oftener than usual, or 
in a very special and eminently significant sense. 

Let us begin with that sublime word with which this 
Gospel opens : the Word (Gr. 6 Aoyos). This word we 
find not only in no other Gospel, but in no other writings 
whatever of the whole New Testament, except those of 
St John. 1 In his Gospel it occurs thrice, even within the 
narrow compass of his first sentence ; In the beginning 
ivas the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
ivas God; and shortly after (v. 14) the incarnation of 
the Saviour is expressed thus : And the Word was made 
flesh, (Gr. kclL 6 Adyos o-ap% eyevero). From that time for- 
ward it recurs no more throughout the whole Gospel. 
The Word made flesh, being no other than the only begot- 
ten Son of God who came into the world, thenceforward 
is made known to us either by his human name of Jesus, 
or by that of the Son. The appellation of the Woed, so 
fitting and so impressive at the first introduction of Christ 

1 Yet most improperly has the expression the Word, in Luke (i. 2), and in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews (iv. 12), been sometimes applied to our Lord's Person. 
The context shews in both places, that nothing more than the common meaning 
of the expression is to be thought of. 



st johx. 2-49 

in his eternal pre-existence with the Father, with like 
perfect propriety and fitness disappears altogether when 
the Gospel assumes a narrative character, and becomes 
properly historical. Yet we read anew at the beginning 
of the Epistle (1 John i. 1, 2) : That tchich was from the 
beginning — the "Word of life. And once more, there- 
after, in one of those dread prophetical scenes in which 
the book of the Revelation announces the advent, the final 
triumph, and the kingdom of Jesus Christ (xix. verses 
11-13), the same expression recurs : And I saw heaven 
opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon 
him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness 
he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame 
of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and he hud 
a name written, that no man knew but he himself And 
he ivas clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his 
name is called the Word of God. The source whence 
is derived this appellation of the Son from the glory which 
he had with the Father from eternity, we clearly dis- 
cover, both from the above cited passage, 1 from the Pro- 
verbs of Solomon (viii. 22-36), and from its connexion 
with the whole of the ancient Jewish theology, in which 
the Word often occurs as that living organ, that second / 
of the great I am (Jehovah), by whom he created the 
world, and reveals himself to men. 2 

Closely allied to the sublime signification of Logos, when 
employed to express the Christ in his divine pre-exist- 
ence, we further find in this Gospel other appellations 
applied to Him, such as the Light, the Truth, the Life, 

1 See p. 233. 

2 We often read in the Jewish Targums (expository commentaries on the Old 
Testament), of the ~;^ n k^2*^ ('the Word of Jehovah) for Jehovah, and 
more particularly for the revelation of God in all the fulness of his life and work- 
ing, which is likewise expressed to us in the Jewish Theology by the Shechixa. 



250 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

&c. Such appellations, used in a sense altogether unique, 
and applied absolutely and exclusively to a divine person, 
properly intimate to us that in him is the principle, the 
cause, the virtue, the absolute idea of truth, life, light, and 
resurrection. And in what other being can we con- 
ceive of any thing like this, except the most high God 
himself? In like manner do we find it expressly said of 
the Son in the Epistle (1 John v. 20), that he is the true 
God and eternal life ; in which declaration the title eternal 
life, which is nowhere given to the Father, but often given 
to the Son, most clearly intimates, that that also of the 
true God must in this place be understood of the Son as 
well as the Father. 

Again, we find exclusively in this fourth Gospel, yet 
another appellation of the Lord Jesus ; that of only be- 
gotten Son, or simply the Only begotten. We 'have already 
seen 1 how, among the synoptical Evangelists, St Luke 
fixes our thoughts particularly on the only children of 
men, who became the special objects of the compassion 
of Jesus, but here we have in Jesus himself the only Son 
of God (i. 14-18 ; iii. 16-18 ; 1 John iv. 9) — a name 
and relationship by no means to be confounded with the 
title of the First-born (Chief and King) over all creatures, 
by which Jesus is extolled by St Paul in the Epistle to the 
Colossians (i. 15). The only begotten Son is Christ in his 
eternal pre-existence. It is of him that our Gospel testi- 
fies further on, that he was in the bosom of the Father, 
that is to say, in the most intimate conceivable com- 
munion of life and existence with the Father. 

The name Son of God, and still more of Son, used 
absolutely and without any further addition, occurs no- 
where so often as in this Gospel, or with so copious an 

1 See p. 192, 



ST JOHN. 251 

explanation of the depth of meaning involved in it (com- 
pare xix. 7, with v. 18). As, moreover, Jesns is here 
called God's only begotten Son (by St Paul, 1 God's own 
Son, in contradistinction to all sonship in a general sense, 
whether by adoption or by creation) ; so, on the other 
hand, God is said in this our fourth Gospel to be Jesus's 
own Father in an equally exclusive sense. 

In connexion with this community of existence between 
the Father and the Son, we find the word glory (Gr. Sofa), 
which, in St John's Gospel, is applied in a very special 
manner to the Son equally with the Father : ive beheld 
his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father (i. 14); 
and when, afterwards, the miracle performed at the mar- 
riage feast at Cana is described, the Evangelist adds (ii. 11): 
This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, 
and manifested forth his glory. This glory he had with 
the Father before the world was (xvii. 5, 24) ; this glory 
is one with that of the Father (xi. 4) : The sickness of 
Lazarus was not unto death, but for the glory of God, 
that the Son of God might be glorified thereby ; and 
when the dead is just about to be called forth from the 
tomb, Jesus saith to Martha, Said I not unto thee, that, if 
thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest seethe glory of God? 
Here, accordingly, the glory of God is the same with that 
of Jesus, as appears also in a most striking manner from 
the remarkable quotation made in this Gospel from the 
prophet Isaiah (xii. 37-41). The reciprocal glorification 
of the Son by the Father, and of the Father by the Son, 
forms also one of the chief peculiarities of this Gospel 
book (xiii. 31, 32) : Now is the Son of Man glorified, 
and God is glorified in him; and (xiv. 13) : And ivhat- 
soever ye shall ash in my name, that will I do, that the 

1 Romans viii. 32. 



252 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

Father may be glorified in the Son And in the interces- 
sory prayer (xyii. 1): Father, the hour is come; glorify 
thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Believers, 
mere men, are said to glorify God, and also to be glorified 
vjith Christ ; but it is the prerogative of the Son alone to 
be directly glorified by the Father. 

Yet another word, very simple and of everyday occur- 
rence in the languages, but of the highest signification in 
things divine, is that of to be or to exist, which quite in a 
peculiar manner indicates the Godhead, and that too of 
the Son. By Moses, the God of the patriarchs made him- 
self known as the Being who, in an absolute and altogether 
unique sense, could call himself, I am. 1 The same God 
testifies of himself in Isaiah (xliii. 13): Before the day 
was, I am. Could it then be without the utmost signifi- 
cance that Jesus, in our fourth Gospel, expresses himself 
in a similar way : Before Abraham was, I am \ In which 
place (viii. 58) what we have particularly to remark is 
the antithesis between the verb become, begin to be, em- 
ployed for the creature, before Abraham came to be 
(Gr. yeveaOcu) ; and that of exist (ehai), which Jesus 
applies to himself: I exist (I am) (eya) el/m). Of the 
same kind is the previous antithesis of these same words 
in the opening of this Gospel (v. 1-3) : The Word was 
(rjv) — all things were made (eyevero). 

This sublime and intimate oneness between the Father 
and the Son is of a piece, also, with the majestic sim- 
plicity with which the Christ in this Gospel speaks both 
of his appearance in the world, and of his future resur- 
rection and ascension. With an expression found no- 
where but here in this sense, he speaks of his procession 
(egepxeaOcu) from the Father, of his return or hence- 

1 Heb. WW ; Exodus iii. 14. It is the incommunicable name of Jehovah. 



ST JOHN. 253 

going (imdyew, iropeveaOat) to the Father. Thus (xiii. 3) : 
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into 
his hands, and that he was come from God, and went 
to God; and afterwards, viii. 42, xvi. 27, 28, 30, xvii. 
8, xiv. 2, 3, 12, 28, xvi. 7, 28, &c. 

With an allusion to the affecting prophecy in Isaiah 
(liii. 7), the Saviour is compared in the New Testament 
to a lamb. St Peter speaks of his precious blood, as 
of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. i. 
18, 19). St Paul had in view a sacrificial lamb, the 
Paschal lamb in particular, when he comprised the whole 
work of pardon and sanctification through Christ in these 
words (1 Cor. v. 7, 8) : For even Christ our passover 
is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast, not 
with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and 
wickedness ; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and 
truth. But it is only in our fourth Gospel, and in the 
book of Revelation, that the lowly yet glorious name of 
the Lamb is given to Jesus directly, and by way of 
title. Even in the time of the preaching of St John 
the Baptist (i. 29, 36), we read, Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And in 
the book of Revelation the Lord is proclaimed and ad- 
dressed in prayer, in his heavenly and divinely royal 
glory, hardly by any other name. The beatified and glo- 
rified, represented under the image of the four living 
creatures and the four-and-twenty elders, fall down 
(v. 8, 9) before the Lamb, and sing the new song in his 
praise : Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and 
people, and nation. And the angelic hosts (v. 12) say: 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 



254 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

riches, and vnsdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
and blessing. And all creatures in heaven and on earth, 
and under the earth and in the sea (v. 13) say: Blessing, 
and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 
Anon, we find this most sublime and awe-inspiring pro- 
phecy speaks (vi. 16) of the face of him that sitteth on the 
throne, and of the wrath of the Lamb, and (vii. 1 7) of 
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne, and shall 
lead his redeemed unto living fountains of waters. And 
further, xiii. 8, xiv. 1, 4, 10, xvii. 14, xix. 7, 9, xxi. 22, 
23, 27, xxii. 1, 3. 

Another choice expression, occurring in St John's Gospel 
alone in this sense, is that of lifting up for the crucifixion 
of Jesus, when he himself foretells his expiatory death 
(vijrovv, v^ovadat), with an evident allusion to the lifting 
up of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and to which 
every Israelite that had been bitten by the serpents in 
the wilderness, had only to look in order to his being 
completely cured. Jesus himself speaks thus to Nicode- 
mus (iii. 14) : And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up 
(v^wQfjvai). And (viii. 28) : When ye have lifted up 
the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he. And 
that by this lifting up nothing but the crucifixion must 
be understood, again appears from the Evangelist's own 
declaration, on his communicating our Lord's words on 
another occasion (xii. 32) : And I (says Jesus), if I be 
lifted up/rom the earth, will draw all men unto me. This 
he said (the Evangelist adds), signifying what death he 
should die. 

As all things in this Gospel are viewed and represented 
in their highest causes, in their deepest foundations ; in like 



ST JOHN. 2b5 

manner do we find in it the word and the idea of God's 
gift and giving, occurring with the same frequency. The 
first cause in all things is the gift of God. What the 
Father hath given to the Son, what anew the Son gives 
or hath given to men, to those who believe in him, is again 
and again pressed on our attention. The Father gives 
to the Son : For as the Father hath life in himself so 
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself (v. 26); 
and (36) The works ichich my Father hath given me to 
finish — bear vntness of me. My sheep — shall never perish, 
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My 
Father which gate them me, is greater than all; and 
in the intercessory prayer (ch. xvii.) with reiteration, 
/ have manifested thy name to the men which thou 
gavest me out of the world (v. 6) ; for I have given 
unto them the words which thou gavest me (v. 8) ; 
/ pray not for the world, but for them which thou 
hast given me (v. 9), &c. To this is intimately allied 
another expression which occurs in this Gospel, in a 
very striking manner : No man can come to me, except 
the Father, which hath sent me, deaw him (vi. 44). But 
besides, both this Gospel and the book of Revelation 
abound in expressions intimating what God, and specially 
the Son, gives to those who believe in him : But as many 
as received him, to them gave he poiver to become the 
sons of God (i. 12): He gives them living water (iv. 1 0, 
14, 15): He gives them that meat ichich endureth unto 
everlasting life (vi. 27) : He gives them that eternal life 
itself (and I give unto them eternal life, x. 28). He 
gives them his peace : Peace I leave with you, my peace 
I give unto you: not as the ivorld giveth give / unto 
you (xiv. 27). He gives them the glory which the Father 
hath given him: And the glory which thou gavest me I 



256 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

have given them (xvii. 22). And in the Revelation of 
his glorious advent he will give a crown of life to the 
faithful, and to them that overcome (ii. 10); to him that 
overcometh he will give a white stone, and in the stone 
a new name written, which no man hnoweth, saving he 
that receiveth it (ii. 17); to him that is athirst will he 
give of the water of life freely (xxi. 6). We read further, 
in different places in that prophetical book, of giving in 
the sense of permitting, as (xiii. 5) : There was given 
unto him (the Beast), a mouth speaking great things and 
blasphemies, &c. 

The world (Gr. /coV/xo?) is again one of the words we 
find frequently recurring in this Gospel and in the Epistle, 
with some difference or modification in the meaning, being 
employed to express sometimes mankind collectively before 
God their creator, or as opposed to God their creator ; 
sometimes the great majority of the human race, in contra- 
distinction either to Israel or to believers ; sometimes an 
indefinite multitude or extension. Employed in the first 
of these meanings, for example, in the account of the dis- 
course held by our Lord with Mcodemus, it is said (iii. 
16) : God so loved the world (men, of themselves his 
enemies through sin), that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life. In the second meaning it occurs, among 
other instances, in the Samaritans' exclamation (iv. 42), 
We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour (not 
only of Israel, but) of the world ; or of the human race 
which remains in unbelief, in opposition to the Church 
which believes (xvii. 9) : I pray not for the world, but 
for them which thou hast given me. Finally, in the third 
meaning (xii. 19), The Pharisees therefore said among 
themselves, Perceive ye hoiu ye prevail nothing f behold, 



st john. 257 

the world is gone after him ; or (xxi. 25), If all the things 
which Jesus did, should be written every one, I suppose 
that even the world itself could not contain the boohs that 
should be turitten. 

We have already pointed generally, among other cha- 
racteristics of St John's Gospel, to the elucidations of 
various sorts which it presents, whether for the purpose 
of reconciling apparent contradictions, or for preventing 
objections. These elucidations, introduced chiefly in the 
way of parenthesis, bear more than once on local circum- 
stances. There is a freshness and artlessness, combined 
with a strict and careful attention to accuracy, in such 
observations as the following: John also was baptizing 
in JEnon near to Salim, because there was much water 
there (hi. 23) ; and at the multiplication of the loaves 
(vi. 10) : And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now 

THERE WAS MUCH GRASS IN THE PLACE. So the men 

sat down, in number about five thousand. And anon 
(v. 22-24), The day following, when the people which 
stood on the other side of the sea, saiv that there ivas none 
other boat there, save that whereinto his disciples were 
entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the 
boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone ; (liow- 

beit THERE CAME OTHER BOATS FROM TlBERIAS NIGH UNTO 
THE PLACE WHERE THEY DID EAT BREAD, AFTER THAT THE 

Lord had given thanks) : When the people therefore 
saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they 
also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for 
Jesus. See also viii. 1, 2, 15, 16, xix. 41, xx. 7, xxi. 
8, &c. 

But this Gospel is especially rich in precise statements 
of hours and days, as well as in the indication of numbers 

R 



258 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



in general. It gives us exactly to know, for example, that 
on the day after the answer of John the Baptist to the 
Pharisees who had been sent to him, Jesus (after the 
temptation in the wilderness, of which we are informed in 
the other Gospels) returned anew to the waters of Jordan 
(i. 29). Again the next day after, John the Baptist 
(yer. 35) was there with two of his disciples, and when he 
pointed Jesus out to them as the Lamb of God, thej fol- 
lowed him. These two disciples were Andrew, Peter's 
brother, and (as we shall see hereafter) the author him- 
self of this Gospel, who records in set terms the hour, 
still fresh in his recollection, and indelibly impressed on 
his memory (i. 39) : it was about the tenth hour (accord- 
ing to our reckoning, four in the afternoon). He subse- 
quently records how, further, on the day folloiving, the 
return to Galilee was undertaken, and Philip called to 
the Gospel (ver. 43), and (ii. v. 1) how, on the third day 
after the discourse with Nathanael, the marriage feast at 
Cana of Galilee was attended by Jesus and his disciples. 
There he mentions exactly the number of the water-pots 
of stone which, in compliance with the directions given 
by Jesus, were filled with the water which afterwards was 
made wine (v. 6) ; subsequently (v. 20) we are told the 
precise number of years which it took Herod to build the 
temple. The hour, too, is carefully recorded at which 
Jesus met the sinful Samaritan woman at Jacob's well 
(iv. 6) — it was about the sixth hour (that is, about noon) ; 
the two days likewise passed by Jesus in Samaria (v. 40), 
and shortly afterwards (v. 52), the hour at which Jesus 
had promised at Cana to the nobleman of Capernaum, 
that his son would be cured, and how, in point of fact, the 
fever left him precisely at that hour. He notes the num- 
ber of the porches at Bethesda (v. 2), together with the 



ST JOHN. 259 

years during which the paralytic who was cured by Jesus 
had been ill (v. 5). He records the distance at which the 
disciples were already at sea, when Jesus, during the night 
following the multiplication of the loaves, came to them 
walking on the waters (vi. 19). We find, subsequently, 
the number recorded in the exclamation of the Jews, 
called forth by the saying of Jesus, that Abraham rejoiced 
to see his day (viii. 57). Thou art not yet fifty years 
old, and hast thou seen Abraham f Then come the four 
days that elapsed betwixt the death and the resurrection 
of Lazarus (xi. 6, and 39). Finally, at the burial of our 
Lord, he mentions the exact quantity of pounds of myrrh 
and aloes that was brought by Nicodemus for the purpose 
of embalming the body of Jesus (xix. 39). And again, at 
the close, in relating our Lord's appearing after his resur- 
rection at the sea of Tiberias, we are told the precise 
number of the fishes caught at his command (as many as 
an hundred and fifty and three), as well as the precise dis- 
tance at which the fishermen were from the land when 
this last miraculous draught of fishes took place (xxi. 7, 8). 
We shall afterwards return to the consideration of the 
weight, in point of evidence, presented by the precision 
of these numerical details, as militating against all possi- 
bility of fiction or of mythical origin. This remark con- 
ducts us to the discovery of a very important peculiarity 
in our fourth Gospel : namely, its great utility in indi- 
cating the order of time in tracing the history of our 
Lord's life on earth, and of the work which he accom- 
plished. It is true, that we have already seen St Luke 
mark the epochs of our Lord's birth, and of his entry on 
his ministry, in their connexion with the general history 
of the world at that period, and more than once enter into 



260 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

sundry chronological details. 1 But those details, though 
sufficient to establish the attention to order which dis- 
tinguishes the third of the Gospels, are far from being 
extended to the apparently trifling minutiae of days, nay, 
even of hours, as we have them in this fourth Gospel. 

But what we have here most of all to remark is, that 
while it is quite impossible to make out, from the first three 
Gospels alone, the number of years occupied by our Lord's 
public labours upon earth, St John's Gospel conducts 
us, in a very simple manner, to a result which it is impos- 
sible to question ; namely, by the special indication of the 
great feasts which Jesus, according to the custom of the 
law, went to the city of the Temple to celebrate on each 
occasion of their recurrence. Of those great feasts noted 
by St John, three are the feasts of the Passover, including 
the day on which our Lord was crucified ; so that by 
means of this Gospel we can calculate, certainly, that our 
Lord's public ministry on this earth occupied a space of 
about three years. 

The chronological character of our Gospel further mani- 
fests itself in the important statement, whereby we learn 
first of all from it (xii. 1), that it was six days before the 
Passover, while Jesus sat at Bethany, at the table with 
Lazarus, after his restoration to life, that Mary anointed 
his feet with costly ointment ; and that the day following 
(v. 1 2), the multitude went before our Saviour with palm 
branches and hosannahs, and accompanied him from 
thence on his entrance into Jerusalem, To this chrono- 
logical exactness of our Evangelist, we ought to add 
what we shall yet see to be a peculiarity of his, namely, 
the particular notice he takes of the Israelitic festivals. 

1 See p. 151. 



ST JOHN. 261 

And further, here the Apocalypse is anew distinguished 
by a character perfectly homogeneous with this Gospel. 
For, from the beginning to the end, is not that most sub- 
lime book a prophetical division of the ages to come into 
great periods, such as that of the seven seeds (chap, vi.), 
that of the seven trumpets (chap, viii.), that of the seven 
vials (chap. xv. 7), &c. 1 To the same peculiarity in St 
John, we may likewise refer the three and a half years, or 
twelve hundred and sixty days, during which the Holy 
City was to be trodden under foot, and the two wit- 
nesses were to prophesy (chap, xi.) ; and, finally, the 
thousand years of the reign of the saints with their Lord 
and King. The Revelation is the book of the signs of 
the times, and sets before us, in a series of sacred repre- 
sentations, the things that ivere to come, and the advent 
of Jesus in his highest glory, in like manner as our fourth 
Gospel relates the things already accomplished, of his 
advent as a despised and suffering Saviour. 

Slowly and majestically throughout, does the pen of 
our last Evangelist unfold the great events most promi- 
nently described by him, in their origin, their causes, and 
their development. No other, for example, conducts us 
so regularly through all the various preparatory incidents, 
down to the violent arrest and crucifixion of our Lord. 
Again and again he mentions how the Jews sought to 
slay him, to stone him (v. 16-18, vii. 1, 19, 20, 25, viii. 
37, 40, x. 31-33, xii. 8-53); but they could not (as is 
clearly explained in this Gospel), because his houe was 
not yet come (vii. 30, viii. 20). 

That hour came at last. The history of the passion 
commences with the remark, that Jesus knew that hour 
(xiii. 1) ; and the intercessory prayer of our great 
High Priest opens with the exclamation : Father, the 






262 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

hour is come! pronounced before his entering Gethse- 
mane (xvii. 2). 

Nor have we only, the regular development and con- 
nexion of events. St John loves in like manner to com- 
municate the first commencement, the earliest origin, often 
likewise the end of things. His Gospel commences with 
that which was already at the beginning, when the world 
did not yet exist. The book of Revelation closes by 
pointing to the consummation of all things with the 
return and the reign of Jesus. The beginning of the 
miracles which Jesus did is noted by him alone (ii.) ; 
and, as a sort of counterpart to that, a miracle performed 
by our Lord during his sojourn upon earth after his 
resurrection. That some of the disciples of Jesus had 
previously been disciples of St John the Baptist, is a 
circumstance which in like manner we know only from St 
John the Evangelist (i. 35-43). The discourses of Jesus 
with the disciples (particularly Philip and Andrew), and 
the mention of the lad who had five barley loaves, precedes, 
in his Gospel alone, the multiplication of the loaves. It 
is he alone, in like manner, who records the explanations 
and discourses by which that same miracle was followed 
up at Capernaum (vi. 5-9, 25-58.). 

Further, it is from St John alone that we know, that 
before supper at the Passover our Lord washed the feet 
of his disciples, and that we have detailed to us the con- 
versation and discourses that took place at the close of 
that last supper (xiii. 2, and following, 31-38, xiv., xv., 
xvi). The apprehension of Jesus in Gethsemane is 
preceded here by the statement, that the soldiers and 
officers went backward and fell to the ground, on our 
Lord uttering these simple words, I am he (xviii. 3-6). 



ST JOHN. 263 

The thrust of the spear into the side of Jesus, which 
followed his death on the cross, is mentioned by St John 
alone (xix. 31, 34). — Is there not, moreover, in all this, 
more or less of a subtile harmony with the glorious title 
of God and Christ, found only in the book of Revelation : 
The first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the begin- 
ning and the ending? (i. 8, 11, 17). 

In connexion with this chronological character of our 
fourth Gospel, and also with the whole tone, at once 
solemn and joyful, which pervades it, we find the fre- 
quent mention of Israel's festivals. While the other three 
Gospels speak of but one of these, the passover, and 
principally, if not solely, of that passover at which Jesus 
was crucified ; our fourth Gospel mentions many such 
festive occasions, and several different Paschal feasts. 
Thus St John speaks of a feast of the Jews, perhaps that 
of Pentecost, on the occasion of our Lord's curing an 
infirmity of thirty-eight years' standing, at the pool of 
Bethesda (v. 1); — of the feast of 'tabernacles (vii. 2); and, 
in particular, of the midst of that feast (v. 14), still 
called, at the celebration of that feast to this day among 
the Jews, the middle days, — and of the last and great day 
of the feast (verse 37) ; finally, of the feast of the dedi- 
cation of the temple, which fell in winter. But of the 
feast of the passover he speaks again and again : thus 
(ii. 13), Jesus went up to Jerusalem when the Jews' 
Passover was at hand, and for the first time purified the 
temple ; and at that passover (verse 23) many believed 
in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did ; 
and again (vi. 4), on the approach of another passover, 
he multiplied the loaves in the wilderness of Galilee. 
The third paschal feast, which he mentions afterwards, 



264 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

was that, in fine, at which our Lord was apprehended 
and crucified. 

Reckoning back each time from this feast, our fourth 
Evangelist notes down various particulars bearing on the 
approach and preparation of our Lord's passion. When 
the Jews' passover ivas nigh at hand, and many went out 
of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to 
purify themselves (xi. 55), he represents the multitude as 
occupied with conjectures as to whether or not Jesus would 
come to the feast ; immediately after this (xiL 1), he 
mentions how Jesus, six days before the passover, came 
to Bethany, where he sat at the table with Lazarus ; 
then (xiii. 1) what took place, before the feast, on the 
evening of the passover ; later still (xviii. 28), how the 
Jews were afraid of defiling themselves in Pilate's judg- 
ment-hall, so as to prevent them from eating the pass- 
over, that is, the paschal meal; finally (xix. 14, 31), that 
the day on which Jesus was crucified, was the prepara- 
tion for the great, that is, the Paschal Sabbath. 

Again, in the book of the Revelation, we find that 
this same character of solemn festivity re-occurs. There 
the heaven opens before the beholder, and a high holiday 
is represented as being held in the glorious courts above ; 
and, in the visions of our Lord's second coming, a celestial 
paschal hymn is employed as the song of praise sung by 
the redeemed, by the angels, and by the whole creation, 
in honour of the Lamb that was slain (v. 6-11). A divine 
feast of tabernacles is celebrated in white robes, and with 
palms in their hands (vii. 9), by a great multitude, which 
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and 
people. It is a high festival of heavenly triumph and 
rejoicing that we read of in that sublime book, when, for 
example (xi. 15, 19), the temple of God was opened in 



ST JOHN. 265 

heaven, and there was seen in his temple the arlc of his 
testament against the time of judgment ; or, after that 
(xv. 2-8), when the victory over the beast, and (xix. 
2-5), the fall of Babylon, the great whore, are cele- 
brated ; or, finally (verses 11-21), when the Lord's return 
at the head of his saints is described, and, at the close of 
all (xxi. 1), the new Jerusalem cometh from God out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

Intimately connected with these festivals, whether the 
national ones of Israel or those of the Jerusalem above, 
is the marriage feast, mentioned also in this Gospel as 
well as in the book of Revelation, not without the most 
striking emphasis. It was at the marriage-feast table 
that Jesus for the first time manifested his glory, by per- 
forming a mighty miracle, and this miracle and that mar- 
riage feast are nowhere spoken of but in this last Gospel 
(ii. 1-12). Soon afterwards, St John the Baptist calls 
himself the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth 
and heareth him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the 
bridegroom's voice. And turn we to the book of the 
Revelation, there too are re-echoed the many and various 
prophecies and declarations of psalmists and prophets, 
that God has espoused a peculiar people to himself — that 
the true Israel has the Lord for her Maker and her Hus- 
band — and there we find proclaimed the felicity of be- 
lievers, in the exclamation (xix. 9), Blessed are they which 
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb ! 

We have seen how the Apostolic Gospel of St 
Matthew is remarkably distinguished by its close relation 
to the Old Testament. We found it marked by an 
eminently prophetical character. We saw that the two 
next in succession, always assuming the fulfilment of 



266 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the ancient prophecies, and always building on that 
foundation, abound less in Scriptural quotations at full 
length, as compared with their predecessor, the Gospel of 
St Matthew. But our fourth Gospel rivals St Matthew's 
in the superabundance of passages adduced from Israel's 
prophets and psalms. Those passages are for the greater 
part entirely new, and, so to speak, fresh in St John, 
never having been cited any where before in the New 
Testament. The form or manner of the quotation, too, 
is somehow differently modified, and has a depth and 
subtlety not to be found in the other Gospels ; as when, 
at the purification of the temple, after recording the 
words of our Lord (ii. 16) : Take these things hence; 
make not my Father's house an house of merchandise ; we 
find this followed by the quotation of one of the pro- 
phetical sayings in the book of Psalms (v. 17), And 
his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of 
thine house hath eaten me up ; and in the discourse with 
the Jews in the synagogue at Capernaum (vi. 44, 45), 
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath 
sent me draw him ; and I will raise him up at the last 
day. It is written in the prophets : And they shall 
be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath 
heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 
And on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles (vii. 37, 
38), Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let 
him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as 
the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall JIovj rivers 
of living water. And when he reproved the Jews for their 
unbelief, and the hardness of their hearts (xii. 36-41) : 
These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide 
himself from them. But though he had done so many 
miracles before them, yet they believed not on him : That 



ST JOHN. 267 

THE SAYING OF ESAIAS THE PROPHET MIGHT BE FULFILLED, 

which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report f 
and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 
Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said 
again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their 
heart ; that they should not see with their eyes, nor under- 
stand with their heart, and be converted, and I should 
heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw 
his glory, and spake of him. And when the traitor 
Judas is pointed out at the supper, where St Matthew 
and St Mark merely make an allusion, here the quotation 
is direct and express (xiii. 18): I speak not of you all : 
I knoiu whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture 
may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath 
lifted up his heel against me ; and in the course of 
what fell from his lips at the Paschal table (xv. 25) : But 
this cometh to pass, that the word might be ful- 
filled THAT IS WRITTEN IN THE LAW, THEY HATED ME 
without A cause ; and among the last words on 
the cross (xix. 28) : After this, Jesus knowing that all 
things were now accomplished, that the Scripture 
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst ; and when the 
legs of the two malefactors were broken, and the body of 
Jesus remained untouched (xix. 36) : For these things 
were done, that the Scripture should be fidfilled, A bone 

OF HIM SHALL NOT BE BROKEN. 

The prophetic character, moreover, that marks our 
fourth Evangelist, is not confined to his deeply significant 
allusions to the ancient oracles of God. It was his spe- 
cial vocation to point attention to what was prophetical 
in our Lord's own words, making these to crown, as it 
were, the golden series of testimonies given by the seers 
who spake before Him. Thus (ii. 22), after recording 



268 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the words in which the Saviour compares his approaching 
crucifixion and resurrection to a destroying and building 
up again of the temple of God, he adds : When therefore 
he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that 
he had said this unto them; and they believed the 

SCRIPTURE, AND THE WORD WHICH JESUS HAD SAID. Thus, 

when he remarks how it behoved to come to pass, that 
Jesus was to be put to death not after the manner of the 
Jews, but after that of the Romans, that is, that he was 
to be crucified, he expresses himself as follows (xviii. 31, 
32) : Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge 
him according to your law. The Jews therefore said 
unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death ; 
That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which 
he spake, signifying what death he should die. 

The prophetical element operates in jet another man- 
ner in this Gospel. Its author calls us several times to 
observe how enemies themselves, without being conscious 
of it, and without designing it, behoved to utter words 
with a prophetic sense. Thus it was with Caiaphas, when 
he recommends that measures should be taken against 
Jesus (xi. 49-51), because it was expedient that one 

MAN SHOULD DIE FOR THE PEOPLE, AND THAT THE WHOLE 

nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself : 
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus 
should die for that nation, &c. Thus, afterwards, 
with Pilate, when he himself had caused the title for the 
cross to be drawn up in three languages, announcing Jesus 
of Nazareth to be King of the Jews : and when the Jews 
complained to him, saying, Write not, The King of the 
Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews: and the 
Roman governor answered, What I have written I have 
written. 



ST JOHN. 269 

In a somewhat different manner still, the enemies of 
Jesus are represented in the Gospel of St John as pro- 
phesying, or as testifying to the accomplishment of the 
prophecy, as, for example, where some of the people said 
(vii. 41, 42); Shall Christ come out of Galilee f Hath 
not the Scripture said, that Christ cometh of the seed of 
David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where 
David was \ Or, subsequently (xii. 34) : We have heard 
out of the Law that Christ abideth foe evee : and hoiv 
sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up f 

In connexion with this prophetical character of this 
fourth Gospel, it is almost unnecessary to remind the 
reader of the book of Revelation, which from beginning 
to end not only consists of prophecies and visions bearing 
upon futurity and the last times, but borrows also its 
whole prophetical language from the Old Testament 
prophets ; yea, gives us back, as it were, all the propheti- 
cal elements of the Old Testament, recast so as to form 
a new mass,, somewhat like the Corinthian brass of 
ancient times, which was said to have been composed 
of various costly and selected metals, fused together 
into one new whole. With respect alone to the agree- 
ment betwixt the book of Revelation and the fourth 
Gospel, in regard to the prophetical character only, we 
would simply remark, that the former commences with 
the very same prophecy which closes the series of 
narratives comprised in the latter. The piercing of 
the Saviour's side, after he had expired on the cross, 
is explained to us in the Gospel (xix. 37) by the pro- 
phecy of Zechariah, They shall look on him whom they 
pierced ; the Apocalypse, linking itself, so to speak, to 
the Gospel, commences (after the six introductory verses) 
thus : Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall 



270 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

see him, and they also which pierced him : and all kin- 
dreds of the earth shall wail because of him. 

Our attention is further called, in our fourth Gospel, to 
the symbolical, as allied to the prophetical element. The 
synoptical Gospels have preserved for us many of the 
similitudes of our Lord. Now, in our fourth Gospel, 
some of our Lord's actions constitute a sort of parables, 
inasmuch as they possess a symbolical character. Such, 
among others, was the washing of the disciples' feet, with 
which the account of the last Supper commences in this 
Gospel. That incident is recorded thus (xiii. 2-7) : And 
supper being ended 1 {the devil having now put into the 
heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him) ; 
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into 
his hands, and that he' was come from God, and went to 
God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his gar- 
ments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that 
he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the 
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel where- 
with he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter : 
and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet t 
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou 
knowest not now ; but thou shalt know hereafter. The 
explanation follows immediately from our Lord's own 
mouth, and is twofold; first (8-11), Peter saith unto 
him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered 
him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but 
also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He 
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is 
clean every whit : and ye are clean, but not all. For he 

1 Or rather : having commenced, as we shall see hereafter. 



ST JOHN. 271 

knew ivho should betray him ; therefore said he, Ye are 
not all clean. And again (12-14), So after he had 
washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was 
set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have 
done to you f Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say 
well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, 
have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one 
another's feet. After this, in the garden of Gethseinane, 
Jesus surrenders himself to his enemies without any 
further stipulation than what was instantly granted 
(xviii. 8), if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way ; 
immediately whereupon we have the deep meaning 
involved in our Lord's acting thus : that (says the 
Evangelist, verse 9) the saying might be fulfilled, ivhich he 
spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. 
Thus it appears, that the preservation of the disciples 
from the carnal hand of enemies was at the same time a 
symbol, an emblem, a type, of that everlasting and spiritual 
salvation effected by means of the sacrifice of the Son, in all 
its plenitude, in the room of those who cleave to him by faith, 
who are given unto him by the Father. — In all that we have 
above observed with respect to the festivals, including among 
these the marriage feast spoken of in this Gospel, there is 
involved in like manner, from the nature of the case, a 
similar character, at once historical and symbolical. Need 
we remind the reader, that this symbolic element is further 
one of the great peculiarities of the book of Revelation I 

The Gospel with which we are now occupied is further 
distinguished by a high mystic character, equally affect- 
ing and sublime. After having had our Lord represented 
to us in the other three Gospels rather in his saving- 
activity among men, and his all-powerful working upon 



272 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

men, here we find placed most in the foreground his 
intimate communion with men, his spiritual dwelling in 
Ins own. This we have already observed in the striking 
and multiplied use made by our Evangelist- Apostle of 
these small words in (Gr. ev) and to be in. To belong to 
the Saviour by faith ; to be a sharer in his grace for time 
and for eternity; to have received, and from moment 
to moment to receive afresh from him that new life in 
which lies involved the germ of everlasting life, is expressed 
every where in St John as a being in the Son, and an 
abiding in him (xvi. 7). He is the vine, and they are 
the branches, and it is only by abiding in him that they 
can bear fruit, and without him they can do nothing : 
He comes unto them with the Father, and makes his abode 
ivith them (xiv. 23). He does not thus manifest himself 
unto the world (verse 22). — In the Gospel, as in the first 
Epistle, all is comprehended in love. God is loye (1 John 
iv. 8). The Father loveth the Son (John v. 20). The 
Son loveth his own ; he loveth them to the end (xiii. 1). 
The Father, in like manner, loveth them, and hath loved 
them (xvii. 23.) Jesus loveth them with a special personal 
love, each by name. He loved Lazarus, and Mary, and 
Martha, and the disciple who lay in his bosom at the 
Paschal table (xi. 5, xiii. 23). 

But neither do the most affecting nor the most sublime 
views exclude, in the case of our fourth Evangelist, an 
attention to accuracy in regard to external, historical, 
material details. We have seen quite the contrary appear 
in our observations on the studious regard which he shews 
in all things for precision with respect to dates and num- 
bers. 1 The same may be remarked in this Gospel with 

1 See p. 257. 



ST JOHK. 273 

respect to the names of men, of witnesses, of believers, of 
enemies. They are given here with a fulness and pre- 
cision found nowhere else. St Peter we find often men- 
tioned under his Jewish and Apostolic names combined : 
Simon Peter (i. 41; vi. 8; 68, &c, &c.)— The traitor 
among the twelve is here explicitly named : Judas Iscariot 
(son of Simon) (vi. 71; xii. 4; xiii. 2, 26) ; and, in contra- 
distinction to him, Judas (son of James) is called, in a 
manner equally simple and significant, Judas, not Iscariot 
(xiv. 22). We are here informed of particular circum- 
stances and sayings respecting Andrew, Philip, Thomas, 
and Nathanael (probably the Bartholomew of the other 
three Gospels), together with their names, as we nowhere 
find in those (i. 41, 42, 45-52, vi. 5, 8; xi. 16; xiv. 
5, 8 ; xx. 24-31 ; xxi. 2.) Besides the two sisters, Martha 
and Mary, previously made known to us by St Luke, the 
name of their brother Lazarus starts up before us, as it 
were, in this Gospel (xi. xii.) In the narrative of the 
passion it is here only that we find mentioned, along with 
Caiaphas, Annas, who was also his father-in-law, and of 
the same sacerdotal family (xviii. 13, 24). Among the 
well-intentioned counsellors at Jerusalem, he mentions, 
as associated with Joseph of Arimathea, with whom we 
were already acquainted, his no less interesting col- 
league Nicodemns (xix. 39 ; vii. 50 ; iii. 1). AVe know only 
from this Gospel, that the name of the high priest's servant 
whose ear was cut off by one of the disciples, was Malchus 
(xviii. 1 0) ; and also what the other Gospels lead us only 
to suspect, at all events do not say, that the disciple who 
drew his sword on that occasion was none other than 
Simon Peter. 

It is further remarkable in this Gospel, that it repeatedlv 

s 



274 THE FOUB WITNESSES. 

unites in itself a Hebrew and a Greek cast of thought, and 
exhibits, at one and the same moment, a Jewish, and, if 
we may so express it, a cosmopolitan 1 character. Greek 
philosophy, we have already seen, furnished our author 
with a sublime term for the expression of our Saviour's 
divine nature, the Logos; but, notwithstanding, no other 
Gospel intimates to us so often his real humanity by giv- 
ing him the Jewish title Rabbi, Rabboni, that is to say, 
Master (i. 38, 50; iii. 2, &c.) Further, it is St John 
only who adds its Roman name when speaking of the sea 
of Galilee (vi. 1) : After these things Jesus went over the 
sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tibeeias (compare 
this with xxi. 1). Thus, too, he adds to the Jewish name 
of Thomas the Greek name of the same signification, 
Didymus (xi. 16; xx. 24 ; xxi. 2) : Thomas, called 
Didymus. The expression : Gome and see, transplanted 
from the soil of Judea to that of Greece, is to be found 
in this Gospel only. 

We find the same thing reappearing in the book of 
Revelation, in the repetition of a Greek expression by 
adding a Hebrew translation, or vice versa; thus, to the 
Greek word vol {yea — even so), is added the Hebrew 
word Amen (i. 7). After the Hebrew word Hallelujah 
(xix. 4), the same exclamation follows in Greek (verse 5) : 
alvelre rov ©ebv r/ficov — Praise our God. The perverse 
doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, who were the Apostle's 
contemporaries, is coupled with that of Balaam in the days 
of Israel under Moses (ii. 14, 15). Coupled with the song 
of Moses the leader of Israel, we have the song of the 
Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world (xv. 2, 3). 
Besides the Hebrew name of the angel of the bottomless 
pit, Abaddon, we have the Greek translation of that 

1 In the original Dutch, wereldburgerlyk, i. e., citizen-of-the-world-like. 



ST JOHN. 275 

appellation, Apollyon. Coupled with the manna with 
which the history of Israel brings us acquainted, we hare 
the white stone from that of the nations of Gentile anti- 
quity (ii. 17). Coupled with the twelve tribes of Israel, 
mentioned by name, we have (vii. 4-8) a great multitude, 
ivhich no man can number, of all nations, and Yindreds, 
and people, and tongues (verse 9). Finally, coupled with 
that most sublime name of God in Isaiah, the First and 
the Last, we have one signifying the same thing, but 
formed frora the Greek alphabet, the A and the fl (xxi, 
13). 1 

From all that we hare hitherto observed, it may 
be sufficiently seen in what manner, and by what an 
abundance of details peculiar to itself, our fourth Gospel 
is distinguished from the other three, nay, among the 
evangelical testimonies holds a place altogether unique, 
and its own. Here, in fact, we have found, as it were, 
quite a new Gospel. 

Quite a new Gospel! Nevertheless not, as many men 
of our day in Germany have sometimes fancied, from not 
having sufficiently studied those diversities, quite another 
Gospel. No doubt the fourth Gospel stands in a sense 
isolated among the four ; yet it only presents a richer 
development, a deeper comprehension, a more heavenly 
mode of contemplating, a minuter elaboration of the same 
subject, the same truths, the same supernatural order of 
facts. Yes, it is ever the same subject, the same revela- 

1 This last name also may be considered as taken from the Jewish Theology, 
by whose doctors the infinite God is often also called n and n, after the first and 
last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Yet one feels how much more fitting and 
sublime the expression becomes when the Greek tongue is employed, in which 
the alphabet opens and closes with two letters of the same sort, by the two 
principal vowels A and £2. 



276 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

tion, the same truths; but in this, at once the most heart- 
affecting and the most sublime of the four Gospels, these 
are contemplated and represented from their greatest alti- 
tude to their lowest depths, from their inmost essence to 
their external aspects. Hence the Gospel of the Word forms 
in that beautiful quartette, if we may so express it, the 
bass of a full harmony ; or, if you would rather have it, 
the highest copestone which terminates, completes, and 
crowns the well-founded and well-built fabric; or, further 
still, if one would rather borrow an image from the circle 
of the sacred Scriptures themselves, then our fourth Gospel 
stands out from among the other three pre-eminent, as 
the Sabbath or Feast-day in Israel among the days of the 
week, — as the office of the priesthood among the functions 
of the Levites, — or like the gleaning of the grapes of 
Ephraim, which was better than the vintage of Abiezer. 1 

And this will appear to us much more clearly still, when 
we notice the point on which anew the consentaneous 
testimony of the most remote ages of the Church is borne 
out by the internal structure of our evangelical quater- 
nion; to wit, that our fourth Gospel was written long- 
after the other three had been composed, and generally 
known and circulated among the churches; that, accord- 
ingly, our last Evangelist must have very certainly had in 
his hands, and must have availed himself of the results of 
the labours of his predecessors, and may and must have 
written on the assumption that their narratives were 
generally known. But if it once be admitted that our 
fourth Gospel was undertaken and composed posterior to 
an already written and extant threefold testimony to the 
life, death, and resurrection of our Saviour, then, surely, 
it lay in the very nature of the case that this fourth testi- 

1 Judges viii. 2. 



ST JOHX. 277 

raony should worthily, and in the manner required, supply 
what still remained wanting, and start from a manifestly 
special and different point of view. With an historical 
character which it is impossible to mistake, we find some 
further peculiarities combined in this composition of St 
John. Here we perceive the evangelical narratives of 
St Matthew, St Mark, and St Luke taken up and inclis- 
solubly incorporated in the sublime soul of their last 
fellow-Evangelist, with the doctrinal announcements of St 
Paul, of St Peter, of all his apostolical predecessors; so 
that, lo ! we have a new composite work of all the greater 
value — a fourth Gospel, powerfully and gloriously distin- 
guished in object, tone, and conception, from all the 
former — a Gospel at once practical and theological, purely 
historical, deeply prophetical, and eminently doctrinal. 

It appears from the simplest and most obvious circum- 
stances, that our fourth Gospel proceeds on the assumption 
that the three first were known ; that it goes on enlarging 
on what had been already testified and established by 
them ; that it ever and anon reverts to them, makes allu- 
sion to them, tacitly points to them, sometimes even by 
an apparent contradiction or discrepancy stamps them 
with the seal of the fullest confirmation. This we have 
to make clearer by examples, of which we here present 
a few. 

Who is there that, in a Gospel of the life and doctrine 
of Jesus Christ, does not look for a nomenclature of his 
twelve Apostles 1 Accordingly, we find such an exact 
list of them given more than once in the synoptical Gos- 
pels (Matth. x., Mark iii., Luke vi., and Acts i.) Yet no 
such list occurs in the last Gospel. How are we to 
account for this 1 Shall we sav. because it differs in 



278 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

respect to the number, or the names, or the behaviour of 
those chosen persons % Assuredly not. Again and again 
mention is made of the Twelve (vi. 70, xx. 24), and cer- 
tain details, as we have seen, are given concerning the 
most of them, which we should not have been made 
acquainted with from any of the preceding Gospels. All 
this, as any one may see, has arisen from the author being 
able to assume, and, in point of fact, because he did 
assume, the list of the Twelve Apostles to be perfectly 
well known to his readers. Accordingly, we need not 
expect this list to re-appear once more in the Gospel 
of the beloved disciple ; but, as if to compensate for this, 
in the last prophetic scenes of his Apocalypse, he speaks 
of the names of the Twelve Apostles as found on the 
twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem (xxi. 14). This 
last Gospel could dispense entirely with the mention of 
their number, the history of their general calling, and the 
details of their Apostolic office or mission ; but all this 
being assumed as known, it remained for the last of the 
Evangelists, as it were in a separate picture, to preserve 
from oblivion, in connexion with the whole object of his 
composition, some characteristic discourses, interesting 
moments, and special incidents that had occurred in their 
intercourse with their heavenly Master. 

In like manner our Gospel altogether omits our Lord's 
genealogy, birth at Bethlehem, and education at Nazareth, 
as facts sufficiently well known from the Gospels of his 
predecessors. Its special vocation is to shew in what 
a sublime and incomparable sense Jesus Christ is the Son 
of God. Nevertheless, the human birth of our Lord loses 
nothing of its evidence on that account in St John ; for its 
most important particulars are recalled in his Gospel, 
sometimes by a passing word from the mouths alike of 



ST JOHN. 279 

friends and of enemies. We have found him (said Philip 
to Nathanael (i. 45), among the very first conversations 
recorded in this Gospel), We have found him of whom 
Moses in the law and the prophets did tvrite, Jesus of 
Nazareth, the Son of Joseph ; and here we see all the 
ignominy that rested among the Jews on that little town 
of Nazareth, concentrated, so to speak, in the exclamation 
of that sincere Israelite, Nathanael, when he replied, 
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth f 

The same peculiarity of this Gospel — to wit, that of 
concentrating rather than extending the incidents and dis- 
courses already known to us from the preceding ones, 
enables us at the same time to meet the surprise that has 
sometimes been manifested with respect to the absence of 
the similitudes in St John. The statement itself that 
they are wanting, is true only in a very limited sense. 
True it is, that St John does not record any parables, in 
so far as we are to understand by that term similitudes 
in the narrative form in which they occur in the synop- 
tical Gospels ; but, as respects the essence of the thing, 
our fourth Gospel most decidedly gives us, under the form 
of metaphor, the similitudes of its predecessors, according 
to the exquisite and profound method which is peculiar 
to it. Thus, for example, in the synoptical Gospels, we 
read that Jesus compares himself to a shepherd who seeks 
after and brings back his stray sheep. Now, it is true 
that we do not again meet with this comparison in our 
last Evangelist in the form of a parable, but we certainly 
do again find the fundamental idea in the form of a meta- 
phorical sentence : / am the good shepherd, says Jesus 
of himself (x. 11) ; and, with a still more profound appli- 
cation of the image than in the other Gospels (v. 11), he 



280 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

says : The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 
Again, in the book of Revelation, by an apparent contra- 
diction, such as belongs to the peculiar character of that 
sublime composition, the Lamb is represented as that 
shephekd that shall feed his sheep, and shall lead them 
unto living fountains of waters (vii. 17). 

In like manner we do not read in St John, as in the 
synoptical Gospels, of the preaching of the kingdom of 
God being compared to a sower going forth to sow, the 
Word of God to a grain of seed, the repentant heart to 
the good ground, the consummation of all things and the 
day of judgment to the time of harvest (Matth. xiii. 1-9, 
Mark iv. 1-20, Luke viii. 1-15); but the fundamental 
idea is to be found in our fourth Gospel (iv. 35, 36), 
although in a wholly different form, and one quite pecu- 
liar to itself : Say not ye, There are yet four months, and 
then cometh harvest f behold, I say unto you, Lift up your 
eyes, and look on the fields ; for they aee white already 
to harvest ; and then, in a still more profoundly signifi- 
cant use of the same idea, in which it is employed to 
throw light on the relation between the ministry of the 
prophets of the Old Testament, and that of the Apostles 
of the New (v. 37, 38), it is said : And herein is that 
saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you 
to reap that on which you bestowed no labour. 

Quite as little do we find here, as we find in the other 
three Gospels (Matth. xxi. 33-41, Mark xii. 1-9, Luke 
xx. 9-18), the kingdom of heaven directly compared to 
a vineyard, into which its owner sends husbandmen, or to 
a marriage feast, to which the master of the house invites 
guests. But the fundamental ideas do occur there quite 
in the same manner, only with a still more profoundly 
significant application. Here Jesus himself is the vine. 



ST JOH>v T . 281 

and his Father the husbandman (xv. i.) ; and, as respects 
the idea of a marriage feast, we have seen already with 
what striking significancj that figure occurs both in the 
Gospel and in the Revelation of St John. 1 

Thus, then, the absence of parables in their historical 
or narrative form in this Gospel, we repeat, is not to be 
regarded as a discrepancy, but much rather as a harmony 
between the synoptical Gospels and that under con- 
sideration. In place of the detailed simile, we have the 
terse and concise metaphor, 2 the ideas remaining funda- 
mentally the same. 

Such, likewise, is the case with regard to another diffi- 
culty which has been alleged against the authenticity of 
our fourth Gospel — a difficulty meanwhile which, in an 
earlier period of neology, was in every way reckoned as 
redounding to its honour ; namely this, that in manifest 
discordance with the statements made in the first three 
Gospels, there is nowhere any mention whatever made of 
the casting out of unclean spirits, as little as there is of 
the Saviour's being tempted of the devil in the wilder- 
ness. For here, too, our fourth Gospel, reposing with 
perfect confidence for the historical details on the testi- 
mony of its predecessors, gives us the same thing again, 
in short results, nice allusions, and invariably in its own 
ever most elevated style and manner. We do not, indeed, 
see there Jesus casting out devils, or maintaining a con- 
flict with their prince in the wilderness ; but we hear him 
give utterance to the final issue, the last concluding result 
effected by that power of casting out devils (xii. 31) : 
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out; and 

1 P. 265. 

3 Instead of the napa^oXrj of the synoptical Gospels, we have here the napoifxia, 
translated in the English authorized version proverbs, and in the margin im- 
properly parables (chap. xvi. 25). 



282 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



(xiv. 30) the prince of this world cometh, and hath 
nothing in me; and (xvi. 11) the prince of this world is 
judged. And as a counterpart or antithesis to this, where 
do we find expressed more positively or more powerfully, 
Satan's taking possession of a wicked soul (xiii. 26, 27) : 
And when he (Jesus) had dipped the sop, he gave it to 
Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan 
entered into him? The last and decisive casting out 
and condemnation of the evil one by the might and 
majesty of Jesus, is found delineated anew in the most 
brilliant colours in the book of the Revelation (xix. 19-21, 
xx). 

It has been objected also to this Gospel, that, contrari- 
wise to the synoptical Gospels, it makes no mention 
either of the prophecy of the destruction, or of the ex- 
pectations entertained of the final restoration, of Jeru- 
salem. Yet the silence of St John's Gospel with respect 
to both, admits of a complete explanation, from the com- 
paratively later period at which it was written, (more than 
probably) when Jerusalem was already destroyed ; the 
prophecy of Jesus with respect to it, being fully recorded 
in the synoptical Gospels (Matth. xxiii., Mark xiii., Luke 
xxi.), did not therefore require to be repeated. And 
yet, even with respect to this most important circum- 
stance, our fourth Gospel is not without a striking, but 
withal highly characteristic, allusion. True, the predic- 
tion of the fall of Jerusalem, as it came immediately 
from the mouth of our Saviour, is omitted here ; but, in 
harmony with the whole plan of this altogether unique 
Gospel, it records a Balaam's prophecy of the approach- 
ing fall of city and temple, which fell from the mouths of 
the hostile high priests and Pharisees (xi. 47). While 
engaged in mutually exciting each other's apprehensions 



ST JOHN. 283 

and resentment at the alarming progress of the doctrines 
and miracles of Jesus ; the pretext of which they avail 
themselves to justify their determining to take violent 
measures against them is, that if they let him alone 
(v. 48), all men will believe on him, and the Romans 
shall come and take aivay both our place and nation. 

Yet not only does our fourth Gospel either tacitly 
assume, or compress into brief sentences what we find 
recorded at large in the synoptical Gospels ; but these, 
on the other hand, in more than one instance, receive a 
powerful elucidation from particular circumstances, first 
expressly mentioned by our last Evangelist, though un- 
doubtedly known to all of them, and present to their 
minds when they wrote their Gospels. Thus, for ex- 
ample, the false testimony mentioned in St Matthew 
(xxvi. 61) and St Mark (xiv. 57, 58), receives an inte- 
resting, and, one might almost say, indispensable eluci- 
dation, from a saying of our Saviour's, first recorded by 
St John (ii. 19), Jesus answered and said unto them, 
Destroy this temple, and in three clays I ivill raise it up. 
That saying, uttered prophetically by Jesus in reference 
to his own body, the false witnesses had interpreted as if 
it had had for its object the temple at Jerusalem (Mark 
xiv. 58), We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that 
is made with hands, and -within three days I will build 
another made without hands. Nothing is more natural 
than that such an incident should have been known to 
the former Evangelists, and should have been present to 
their minds when recording the testimony of the false 
witnesses, but that the direct communication of the 
fact, and consequently the complete explanation of this 
remarkable incident, should have been reserved for being 



284 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

recorded by our concluding Gospel. In like manner, it 
is in this Gospel only that we are informed of the true 
cause of the nocking together of the people, and of their 
acclamations, on the day when Jesus repaired from 
Bethany to Jerusalem. That cause was the resurrection 
of Lazarus from the dead, a fact not recorded by any of 
the other Evangelists : The people therefore (so we read 
in St John's Gospel, xii. 17, 18) that was with him 

WHEN HE CALLED LAZARUS OUT OF HIS GRAVE, AND 

raised him from the dead, bare record, that is, testi- 
fied to his haying done so. For this cause the people 
also met him, for that they heard that he had done this 
miracle. But if we will now go back to the matter as 
related by the first three Evangelists, we shall clearly 
perceive that they could not have been ignorant, either 
of that event, or of the connexion of the rapturous excla- 
mations of the multitude with that event, although they 
have mentioned neither. This may be seen in St 
Matthew (xxi. 10, 11), And when he was come into 
Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this f 
And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of 
Nazareth of Galilee ; and in a still higher strain in St 
Luke (xix. 37), And tuhen he was come nigh, even now 
at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude 
of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a 
loud voice for all the mighty works that they had 
seen. 

Thus, then, the Gospel testimony of our fourth Evan- 
gelical author is quite at one with that of the synoptical 
Evangelists ; thus, then, above all, is the Divine leading 
personage who appears on its pages, Jesus, the Son of 
God, no other than the Jesus Messiah of the synoptics. 



st john. 285 

And jet there is a difference — a difference which de- 
tracts nothing from this identity, but enhances it all the 
more — a difference between the first three Gospels and 
the last, necessarily resulting from the greater depth of 
comprehension peculiar in all things to St John. Even 
in the sphere of ordinary human life, a great man will 
present a very different picture under the pen of his 
different biographers, according to the different points of 
view in which they contemplate him, or according to the 
particular quality or characteristic that chiefly interests 
each. A Julius Cesar, a Charlemagne, a Charles the 
Fifth, will furnish materials for very different, though all 
true and faithful historical portraits, according as the 
subject is treated in its military, political, philosophi- 
cal, literary, or Christian bearings ; — a mere human 
teacher, such as Socrates, being more thoroughly compre- 
hended by Plato, will on that account be differently 
described by him from what we find him described by 
Xenophon, without our having to infer from this diversity 
any thing to the prejudice either of the genuineness and 
authenticity of the two writings, or of the fidelity of the 
two portraits ; and yet shall we be surprised, or allow 
ourselves to give way to scepticism, because that same 
Jesus (that Jesus in ivhom are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and hnoiuledge) 1 is comprehended and portrayed, 
by the last of his Gospel biographers, in a different 
manner from that of any of his fellow Apostles or 
Evangelists who preceded him 1 Shall we wonder if we 
find that there were reserved, for the purpose of being 
communicated by such a Gospel, particular incidents, 
traits of character, sayings, explanations, developments, 
all maintaining a necessary harmony with the writer's 

1 Colossians, ii. 3. 



286 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

deeper insight into his subject, and the greater elevation 
of the point from which he contemplated it. Yet how, 
even here, diversity reposes on unity, how it just brings 
out in all the stronger relief the unity of the whole, may 
be demonstrated from those glorifications of the Master's 
divinity, in which our fourth Evangelist, while he keeps 
the same truths, the same subjects and incidents before 
his mind, nevertheless appears notably to differ from his 
predecessors in point of expression, connexion, and the 
use of terms. We may adduce of this the following 
examples : — 

In St Matthew, and still more in St Luke, we have a 
detailed account of the supernatural conception of Israel's 
Messiah by a virgin, without man's intervention, through 
the power of the Holy Ghost. In our fourth Gospel, not a 
single circumstance is recorded in reference to that first 
of all the miracles of the New Testament revelation. But, 
on the other hand, what a striking summary of the whole 
matter do we not find in that one short sentence : the 
Word was made flesh f How can we possibly mistake 
the allusion here % Again, what a mysterious yet sensible 
reference to the miraculous conception at the very com- 
mencement of our Gospel, in which all who by faith 
have received the Son (i. 12, 13), are called sons of 
God: which are bom, not of blood, nor of the will of 
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God! Of this 
spiritual or second birth of sinful men, we find that 
invariably, according to the whole tenor of the New 
Testament doctrine, the miraculous birth of the sinless 
Saviour is represented as the foundation, the antitype, 
the impetrating and efficient cause. Thus, then, the 
miraculous conception and birth of Jesus Christ accord- 
ing to the flesh, are not, it is true, directly narrated in 



ST JOHN. 287 

our fourth Gospel, but nevertheless assumed, pointed to, 
and glorified, in their bearing upon and connexion with 
the Christian second birth. 

In the first three Gospels, the reality of our Lord's 
human nature conies out in all manner of ways In 
these we behold him sharing, feeling, practically expe- 
riencing all human wants, exigencies, and sentiments, only 
without sin. Thus, when he went without food, at last he 
was an hungered (Matth. iv. 2, Luke iv. 2). Our fourth 
Gospel does not speak of the hunger felt by the Saviour ; 
but, on the other hand, it, and it alone, and more than 
once, speaks of his thirst. It presents him to us (iv. 
6, 7), oppressed by the noonday heat, athirst, and ask- 
ing to drink ; but at the same time discovering to the 
Samaritan woman, to whom his request was addressed, 
the need she had of the living ivater, which he alone 
could give. At a later period we find, in this Gospel 
only, our Saviour completing his sufferings of soul and 
body in that significant exclamation: I thirst {six. 28). 

In St Matthew and St Mark we hear the Saviour 
testify, that he came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matth. 
xx. 28, Mark x. 45). In our fourth Gospel, it is true, 
we do not find these very words, but we find the thing 
itself stated in a much more striking manner. There 
we find Jesus called the Lamb of God, that taketh aiuay 
the sins of the world. It is recorded of him there, that 
leaving the Paschal table, he took a towel, and girded 
himself, and began to wash the disciples' feet (xiii. 3, 5). 

In the synoptical Gospels, the Saviour is represented 
as exercising his power over nature ; he stills the storm 
and the waves — he dries up a green fig-tree. Our 
fourth Evangelist passes over these miracles ; but he 



288 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

shews us the power of Jesus over the creation, in that 
beginning of miracles which he did at Cana, and which 
was in fact a blessing bestowed on marriage, a symbol of 
all the blessings of the Gospel : common water was 
changed into the most costly wine. 

In the synoptical Gospels, the Saviour declares, that 
in matters relating to the exercise of his ministry as a 
divine teacher, he knew neither mother nor brethren 
(Matth. xii. 47-49), Then one said unto him, Behold, thy 
mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak 
with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told 
him, Who is my mother f and who are my brethren f And 
he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and 
said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For whoso- 
ever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. Our 
fourth Gospel does not repeat these details ; but on 
another and a more solemn occasion, when Jesus for the 
first time manifested forth his glory at Cana, it shews 
us the Saviour intimating the broad line of separation 
between all natural relationships and the discharge of his 
functions as the Messiah, in that most important answer 
to the remark addressed to him by his mother, (ii. 4) 
Woman, what have I to do with thee f mine hour is not 
yet come. 

In the synoptical Gospels, we see Jesus in Gethse- 
niane, straitened, and exceeding sorrowful even unto 
death, addressing a prayer to his Father that this cup 
(that of his sufferings) might pass from him (Matth. 
xxvi. 39, Mark xiv. 35, Luke xxii. 42). But quite the 
reverse was the case, at it would at first sight appear 
from our fourth Gospel. According to it Jesus had 
already, before passing the brook Cedron, in his solemn 



ST JOHN. 289 

intercessory prayer, given Ml expression to the determi- 
nation he had made, to devote himself to death. That 
prayer is a testament reposing on the certainty of his ap- 
proaching propitiatory death. And yet, essentially, there 
is no difference between the synoptics and St John. Even 
in the synoptical Gospels we find it put beyond all ques- 
tion, that the Redeemer had come into the world for this 
very end, that he should drink of that cup of suffering. 
But it was their special office to place the struggle of the 
Saviour's human nature in the strongest and clearest 
light : it belonged to them to make it appear how the 
sufferings of Jesus were sufferings which he had freely 
taken upon him, from which, without sin, his manhood 
could, and necessarily did, at first recoil, only to merge 
itself absolutely afterwards, when the fearful struggle 
down to the bloody agony was past, absolutely and 
entirely in the higher will, in the Divine counsel. As a 
counterpart to this, we find placed in the foreground, in 
our fourth Gospel, the immutability of the Divine pur- 
pose, the Divine certainty of the sacrifice that was to 
be accomplished. Yet even in it the struggle of our 
Saviour's human soul is not concealed. In it we have, 
so to speak, the germ of the agony and the prayer of 
Gethsemane, in those words, uttered some days before at 
Jerusalem (xii. 27, 28) : Now is my soul troubled; and 
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but 
for this cause came I unto this hour. Here too, again, 
we find in our fourth Gospel the higher aspect of our 
Lord's personality put forward, while the (ever holy) 
human aspect appears most prominently in the other 
three ; but neither of these aspects is wanting in any 
one of the four ; in each and all Jesus is the same 
incarnate Lord, and suffering Redeemer in one person. 

T 



290 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

In the synoptical Gospels we read of heaven and 
earth giving testimony to the greatness of the crucified 
Saviour in the last moment of his sufferings. As he 
gave up the ghost, the sun was darkened, the earth did 
quake, and the rocks rent ; the graves were opened, and 
the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Nothing of all 
this do we find in the fourth of our Gospels. But, on 
the other hand, it directs our regard to a sign that was 
made on the dead body of our Lord himself (xix. 34) : 
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and 
forthwith came thereout blood and water. Thus here, 
likewise, there is no substantial difference. In the three 
first Gospels the visible creation occupies the first place 
at that awful and critical moment : in the fourth, the 
flesh itself in which the Son of God appeared. 

The synoptical Gospels take us up to the loftymountain, 
where Jesus shews his glory to the three chosen disciples, 
thus giving them a foretaste, and view by anticipation, of 
his heavenly kingdom (Matth. xvi. 28 ; xvii. 1-8 ; Mark 
ix. 1-9; Luke ix. 27-36 ; 2 Pet. i. 16-18). The fourth 
Gospel does not give any account of the transfiguration on 
Mount Tabor ; but as a whole and throughout it is a Gos- 
pel of the glorification of Jesus, alike in his life and in his 
sufferings. 1 Of this, too, the line is carried on and com- 
pleted in the book of the Revelation. What else, indeed, 
is that book but a continuous display, under various 
figures, of that glory which John, and James, and Peter 
witnessed, at the transfiguration on the mount? 

Here, accordingly, and in the synoptical Gospels, Jesus 
Christ is always the same ; the same, but, like the sun in 
our visible sky, shining with a different kind of splendour, 
according as he rises, or sets, or appears in the full efful- 

1 See pages 230 and 251. 



ST JOHN. 291 

gence of his noontide radiance ; the same, but such as, even 
according to the testimony of the synoptical Gospels, he 
appeared after his resurrection to his own, every time in 
a different aspect, and was recognised by them as the 
same Jesus only after some moments of amazement, and 
after having had their eyes holden for a time, that they 
should not know him (Mark xvi. 12, Luke xxiv. 16). 

One very simple example will make it abundantly 
evident, that differences in point of form and expression 
in the Evangelists, may have been, and actually were the 
result, not of an original difference or uncertainty with 
respect to the expression actually employed by our Lord ; 
but, on the contrary, of a particular manner, an impor- 
tant and highly remarkable operation in the mind and 
soul of his disciple and witness. The multiplied use of 
the Hebrew Amen {verily), I tell you, at the commence- 
ment of so many of the Saviour's declarations in these 
writings, is familiar to us all. No less obvious, with 
respect to this word also, is a remarkable and uniformly 
observed difference between the synoptical Gospels and 
the concluding one. In the latter this expression, indi- 
cative of solemn asseveration, is always, and without a 
single exception, repeated — Amen, Amen ; no less uni- 
formly, and without exception, do the three first Gospels 
keep to a single Amen 1 or Verily. Now, whence this 
uniform and invariably observed difference % 

To say, that Jesus must sometimes have uttered the 
Amen only once, and at others with a reduplication of 
the term, does not resolve the difiiculty; all the less 

1 In the book of Revelation (iii. 14), Jesus calls himself the Amen ; and 
immediately afterwards, as if by way of explanation, the faithful and true 
Witness. 



292 



THE FOUR WITNESSES, 



after it is observed, that sometimes the same sentences 
that in the synoptical Gospels are accompanied with a 
single Verily, appear with a double in that of St John. 
Thus, for example, in the passage in which the treason of 
Judas is foretold : — 



Matth. xxvi. 21. 

And as they did eat, 
he said, Vekily / say 
unto you, that one of 
you shall betray me. 



Mark xiv. 18. 
And as they sat 
and did eat, Jesus said, 
Verily / sexy unto you, 
one of you which eat- 
eth with me shall be- 
tray me. 



John xiii. 21. 
When Jesus had 
thus said, he was 
troubled in spirit, and 
testified, and said, 
Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, that one of 
you shall betray me. 



And where St Peter's denial of his Master is foretold 



Matth. xxvi. 34. 

Jesus said unto him, 
Verily / say unto thee, 
that this night, before 
the cock crow, thou 
shalt deny me thrice. 



Mark xiv. 30. 
And Jesus saith unto 
him, Verily / say unto 
thee, that this day, 
even in this night, be- 
fore the cock crow 
twice, thou shalt deny 
me thrice. 



John xiii. 38. 
Jesus answered him, 
Wilt thou lay down 
thy life for my sake ? 
Verily, Verily, I say 
unto thee, the cock 
shall not crow, till 
thou hast denied me 
thrice. 



Whence, then, this uniformly repeated Verily in our 
last Gospel % Why, from his own soul I 1 The Amen, or 
Verily, with which the Master confirms, and, as it were, 
pronounces with an oath, his divine utterances, calls forth 
a response from the bosom of his beloved disciple and 
witness. Amen, replies the Spirit in his inmost soul to 
the Amen of his Lord, with the same sort of echo where- 
with, for example, at the close of the Revelation, to the 

1 Lightfoot, t. i., p. 401. " Neque quidem existimo, Christum hac vocis 
repetitione usuin fuisse (nam permirum rnihi videtur, ipsum ita fecisse hi his 
sermonibus quorum mentionern facit Johannes, atque in illis, quos cseteri 
referunt, non ita fecisse, cum probabile sit eundem aliquando utrobique fuisse 
sermonem) : verum ego suspicor vocem reiterasse Evangelistam." 



ST JOHN. 293 

words of Jesus, / come, there is answered, Yea, come 
(Rev. xxii. 20). 

Now, what takes place with regard to the reduplication 
of the divine Amen, may serve at the same time as a key 
to many other places in the fourth Gospel, where a word 
or a sentence of Jesus is from time to time repeated or 
renewed, like a clap of thunder by the echo of the rocks, 
or like one and the same object reflected from mirrors 
placed over against each other, Is this not evidently 
the case (not to adduce other examples here) with the 
manifold varieties of expression wherewith, in the sixth 
chapter of St John's Gospel, the saying of Jesus, / am 
the bread of life, is over and over again repeated, eluci- 
dated, and developed % Much the same sort of merging 
together in one, of the words uttered by Jesus and those 
of the Evangelist who was to relate and to expound 
them, may be seen too in the divine Master's thanks- 
giving at the tomb of Lazarus (xi. 41, 42), Father, I 
thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that 
thou hearest me always ; (the Evangelist- Apostle's spiri- 
tual extension and authentic elucidation here evidently 
follow, and we have no longer the actual expressions of 
our Lord) : but because of the people that stand by I said 
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. Is not 
our Lord's declaration to Nicodemus (iii. 14, 15) followed 
up, in like manner, with an almost imperceptible transi- 
tion, by that explanatory statement of the Apostle himself 
(v. 16), For God so loved the world, that he gave his only 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life — and the following verse % 

Thus, then, are both the discourses recorded as de- 
livered by Jesus, and the whole method and arrange- 



294 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

ment, narrative, and dramatic representation, in our 
fourth Evangelist, in strict and necessary unison with his 
particular individuality, with the special object at which 
he aimed, and with the peculiar conception which he had 
of his subject. That object, that conception, that indivi- 
duality, we have seen retain their consistency through- 
out, in the most harmonious manner. In the writer of 
our fourth Gospel, we have seen throughout the man 
who, in the view which he has taken of the incarnate 
Saviour, had the power of combining the loftiest heights 
with the most profound depths — the nicest accuracy with 
the amplest freedom — the minutest precision in material 
details with the sublimest views in the philosophy of 
heaven — that is to say, in the knowledge of God and of 
Christ ; the man who, in his soul, in his testimony, in his 
writings, unites, and as it were fuses together the first of 
things and the last — the Old and the New Testament — 
the Israelitic economy and the economy of the elect 
Heathen, in a way that no other Evangelist has clone. 
We have seen in him the man who announced the Word 
that was with God, and that was God, recording for us 
the sayings of that living Word, along with the echoes 
which these called forth from his own heart ; the witness 
who testified of the Son as he is in the bosom of the 
Father, and declares the Father to us ; the herald of the 
glory of the Lamb that ivas slain, and who taketh away 
the sins of the world. 

It is time now that we proceed to complete the har- 
monies which these various speculations have suggested 
in the way of mere remarks and comparison, by a final 
inquiry into the name and person of the writer. It is 
time that, in accordance with one of the main objects of 
these speculations, we should exhibit the evidence sup- 



ST JOHN. 295 

plied by all the various particulars which we have indi- 
cated in this Gospel, in proof of its being really and truly 
the word of none other than the disciple whom Jesus 
loved, of that St John, the son of Zebedee, who was sur- 
named by his divine Master, the son of thunder. 

Among the many names which we find expressly men- 
tioned in this our fourth Gospel, we are struck with no- 
where finding that of one of the Apostolic twelve who, 
from the very first, had a prominent place among them. 
We allude to that of the Apostle St John. 1 But while 
this is the case, the Gospel before us speaks again and 
again of a disciple who lived in the closest intimacy with 
Jesus, without introducing his name, but with indications 
that unequivocally point to that disciple, both as an eye- 
witness and as a select Apostle. Can it admit of a doubt, 
that of the two disciples who (i. 35, 40) left the Baptist, 
to follow Jesus the Lamb of God, as directed by him ; 
and of whom one was Andrew, the brother of Peter 
(v. 41), the other must have been the author of this 
Gospel % That anonymous disciple who, according to 
the Gospel of St John, accompanied Andrew, is cer- 
tainly no other than the disciple who afterwards, on the 
occasion of the Paschal supper, makes himself known to 
us as the one whom Jesus loved, and who, while at the 
table, leaned on Jesus' bosom (xiii. 23) ; the same who, 
later still, during the interrogatory of Jesus in the house 
of Caiaphas, speaks of himself as that other disciple who 
followed with Simon Peter, and who was known unto the 
high priest — who went in with Jesus into the palace of 
the high priest, and afterwards went out and brought in 

1 Wherever the name John occurs in this Gospel, it is the Baptist that is 
meant. 



296 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Peter (xviii. 15, 16). This disciple whom Jesus loved 
we again meet with, standing by the cross when the dying 
Saviour confides his mother to him (xix. 26, 27). In the 
narrative of the death of our Lord on the cross, he makes 
himself distinctly known more than any where else as an 
eyewitness and author of that Gospel. When he relates 
(v. 34), how one of the soldiers pierced the side of our 
Lord with a spear, whereupon there forthwith came there- 
out blood and water, these words immediately follow 
(v. 35) : And he that saw it bare record, and his record 
is true ; and he hnoweth that he saith true, that ye might 
believe. We again meet with this disciple whom Jesus 
loved, in the account we have of our Lord's resurrection 
(xx. 2-4) ; and once more afterwards, when the risen 
Saviour, near the sea of Tiberias, shews himself to his 
own for the third time (xxi. 7) : and, finally, immediately 
after the question, thrice addressed by our Lord to Peter, 
Lovest thou mef we find the same anonymous disciple 
mentioned, in a manner which not only necessarily leads 
to the presumption that that disciple held a distinguished 
place among the Apostles, but evidently supposes this to 
have been the case (xxi. 20-24). 

Who else but the Apostle St John, the son of Zebedee, 
could this disciple be 1 Who but he could be the author 
of our fourth Gospel, as the unanimous testimony of the 
first Christian Churches proclaim him to have been? 

Now, with respect to the former of these two intimately 
connected suppositions, all that is said in our fourth 
Gospel of this disciple who is not named, intimates to us 
the eyewitness, the man who enjoyed the greatest inti- 
macy of his divine Master while he sojourned on earth. 
Certainly we should never think of looking for such a 
witness beyond the circle of the Twelve. But we have 



ST JOHX. 297 

long since ascertained by looking at the synoptical Gos- 
pels, that of those Twelve, three in particular were called 
to be the most favoured witnesses at once of the passion 
and of the glory of their Lord. These were St Peter and 
the two sons of Zebedee. Now, of these three, St Peter, 
whose character so entirely differed from that imprinted 
as the style of our fourth Gospel, does not fall under our 
consideration here at all ; as little does St James, who, 
so early as about the commencement of the Apostolical 
era (Acts xii.), fell under the sword of Herod Agrippa. 
Thus, of this small number who enjoyed the closest inti- 
macy with the Saviour, there remains but the Apostle 
John, whose name and memory have been inseparably 
associated with this Gospel from the earliest ages of the 
Church. 

And now the name of St John, of the disciple whom 
Jesus loved, placed at the head of our fourth Gospel, 
makes every thing harmonize with all that we have hitherto 
been able to gather, according to the method of observa- 
tion we have pursued with respect to the peculiarities and 
the character of that portion of Scripture. Does not the 
Apostle and the eyewitness reveal himself to us in that 
exuberance of local details, that exactness in the state- 
ment of numbers, and of days and hours — that Ml ex- 
pression given to names and surnames — those explanatory 
parentheses, so naturally suggested by his vivid recollec- 
tions of what had passed before his eyes — those artless 
and off-hand accounts of what fell from the lips of all 
sort of interlocutors concerning the things of the kingdom 
of God, amid the ordinary intercourse of the people with 
our Lord, or with each other — that multiplicity of other 
particulars, all so full of life and reality, which crowd 
upon us in perusing this Gospel \ To whom, for instance, 



298 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

but to an eyewitness, filled and penetrated with the 
recollection of the things which he himself had seen and 
heard, and in which he had taken a personal part, could 
it have occurred to incorporate with his narrative all those 
details of the tumultuous current of popular life, inter- 
mingling these with the exposition of the most sublime 
mysteries, and the most profound truths of the salvation 
now proclaimed to the world \ Who but such an one, 
for example, in speaking of the miraculous change of 
water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana, could have 
thought of giving a place to that altogether material 
exclamation of the ruler of the feast to the bridegroom, 
in which, nevertheless, the testimony to the change that 
was effected is clearly implied \ Every man at the begin- 
ning doth set forth good ivine ; and when men have well 
drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the 
good wine until now (ii. 1 0) . Or, to take another instance, 
at the time of the cure of the man that was born blind, 
who else would have thought of recording with such a 
natural simplicity, all that passed in the way of remark 
and conversation among the persons interested in that 
miracle (ix. chap.) % or, once more, on the occasion of the 
last miraculous draught of fishes, who but he would have 
given the exact number of cubits at which the little ship 
was at the time distant from the land (xxi. 8)1 To 
whom but to an author possessing the most complete 
moral certainty of his intimate connexion with Jesus, and 
with the history of his life and of his passion, would it 
ever have occurred never to mention himself, except by 
that denomination, at once so humble and so distinc- 
tive, of the disciple whom Jesus loved f Who but St 
John, surnamed the son of thunder, could have fol- 
lowed up with such energy of expression, what he 



ST JOHN. 299 

says of the depth of the love of God, with his men- 
tion of the wrath of God (iii. 36) % He that believeth 
on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth 
not the Son shall not see life ; but the weath of God 
abideth on him. Or, again, who else wonld have fol- 
lowed up the most magnificent and touching promises 
to his chosen Apostles, with so severe a character of the 
traitor, speaking of him as a devil, and as the son of per- 
dition (vi. 70, 71, xiii. 10, 11, 26, xvii. 12)1 Who can 
fail in all this to recognise the work of an Apostle, else- 
where known to us as a pillar of the primitive Church 
(Gal. ii. 9) 1 Who can fail to recognise in the disciple 
who accompanied St Peter on proceeding to their Master's 
sepulchre (xx. 14), that St John, whom, at the commence- 
ment of the Apostolic ministry, after the descent of the 
Holy Ghost, we still continue to meet, accompanying St 
Peter in the preaching of the word, and in sharing the 
persecutions that ensued upon it (Acts iii., iv., v.) \ 

Is it matter of surprise that when, now twenty years 
ago, one of the learned men of Germany published cer- 
tain scientific doubts reflecting on the authenticity of the 
Gospel of St John, the result of the investigations to 
which this attack gave rise in the theological world, 
proved so effectual a counteractive to such scepticism, 
that the difficulties that had been started were openly 
retracted by the very man who had first propounded 
them ; and that the authenticity of the Gospel of St 
John, whether viewed intrinsicaily or extrinsically, was 
triumphantly established on surer evidence than ever % 

And that evidence in support of the pure and perfect 
Apostolic authenticity of our fourth Gospel, becomes, if 
possible, clearer still, when we view it in connexion with 
the other writings from the same hand that have come 



300 THE POUR WITNESSES. 

down to us; that is to say, the Epistles and the Apo- 
calypse. Our plan does not permit us to enter deeply 
here into an examination of these two compositions. All 
that is required is to set oyer against each other the 
Gospel of St John, and the first of the Epistles that bear 
his name, in order to become profoundly convinced that 
both must certainly and evidently be referred to the same 
sacred author. We have the same style, the same con- 
struction of sentences, the same favourite ideas and 
expressions, the same form of doctrine, the same testi- 
mony. The Epistle is manifestly, so to speak, a practical 
abridgment of the Gospel ; it may possibly have been, 
as has lately been suggested by some one, that the Epistle 
was the accompanying letter transmitted along with the 
Gospel to the churches. As for what concerns the Apo- 
calypse, without any thought in our mind of defending 
here the divine authenticity of that sublime book, we 
have more than once been led insensibly, in the course of 
these speculations, to call the reader's attention to the 
numerous points of agreement which, in several charac- 
teristic traits, it presents with our fourth Gospel. To these 
we shall only further add, that the objection started, on 
the ground of difference of style and language, against 
the identity of the authors of the book of Revelation 
and of our fourth Gospel, is sufficiently met by pointing 
to the difference of the subjects, and, above all, to the 
Hebrew and Old Testament element, which, from the 
nature of the case, distinguishes this divine prophetical 
book — the New Testament. 

Here we might close our examination of the Gospel of 
St John, fully expecting that a comparison of the 
several accounts of our Lord's passion, presented to us in 
the four Gospels, will throw a still more satisfactory light 



ST JOHN. 301 

on the essential oneness of the fourfold testimony that 
they comprise. The comparison of a very important 
narrative in the Gospel of St John, with the correspond- 
ing passages in those of his predecessors, will further 
serve as an introduction to the object we have proposed 
to ourselves, and we therefore introduce it here. The 
passage we have selected is that which records the mul- 
tiplying of the loaves, and what happened immediately 
afterwards, particularly on the sea of Galilee. 

The multiplication of the loaves is a miracle of so emi- 
nently important a nature, that all four Evangelists, one 
after another, have given it a place in their narratives, in 
the following manner, and with the following differences. 

Matth. xiv. 13, 14. Mauk vi. 32-34. 

When Jesus heard of it, he de- And they departed into a desert 
parted thence by ship into a desert place by ship privately. 33. And 
place apart : and when the people the people saw them departing, and 
had heard thereof, they followed him many knew him, and ran afoot 
on foot out of the cities. 14. And thither out of all cities, and out- 
Jesus went forth, and saw a great went them, and came together unto 
multitude, and was moved with him. 34. And Jesus, when he came 
compassion toward them, and he out, saw much people, and was 
healed their sick. moved with compassion toward 

them, because they were as sheep 
not having a shepherd : and he be- 
gan to teach them many things. 

Luke ix. 10, 11. John vi. 1-4. 

And Jesus went aside privately After these things Jesus went 
into a desert place belonging to the over the sea of Galilee, which is 
city, called Bethsaida. 11. And the the sea of Tiberias. 2. And a great 
people, when they knew it, followed multitude followed him, because 
him : and he received them, and they saw his miracles which he did 
spake unto them of the kingdom of on them that were diseased. 3. And 
God, and healed them that had Jesus went up into a mountain, 
need of healing. and there he sat with his disciples. 

4. And the passover, a feast of the 

Jews, was nigh. 

This introduction assumes the same circumstances in 



302 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

all the four Gospels : Jesus with his disciples passes over 
the sea of Galilee, and collects the multitudes around him 
in a desert place — the yast bushy wastes of Bethsaida. 
He is moyed with compassion towards them, and teaches 
them the things concerning the kingdom of God. Here 
St Mark gives us anew his characteristic supplementing of 
St Matthew's narrative : the multitudes that hastened on 
foot out of all the cities, took care to outrun the disciples, 
and came thus about Jesus (v. 33), Jesus was moved 
with compassion towards them, because they were as sheep 
not having a shepherd, a comparison used on this occasion 
only in St Mark (v. 34). St Luke (v. 10) names the 
precise place where the incident occurred — a desert place 
belonging to the city called Bethsaida, and repeats what 
St Matthew (v. 13) says of the healing of the sick, whilst 
at the same time mention is made of the kingdom of God 
(v. 11). St John assumes the knowledge of all these 
particulars, but nevertheless notes them in passing : the 
crossing of the sea of Galilee, which he calls the sea of 
Tiberias also (v. 1), — the great multitude that followed 
Jesus, and the miracles, above all, the cures he wrought, 
and on account of which they followed him. The two 
words peculiar to him, After these things (Gr. fiera ravra), 
by which he is wont to inclose, as if in a picture apart, 
the several portions of his Evangelical history, here open 
the narrative. St John alone speaks of the passover, a 
feast of the Jews, being nigh, and thus fixes the date. 

Matth. xiv. 15-21. Maek vi. 35-44. 

And when it was evening, his And when the day was now far 

disciples came to him, saying, This spent, his disciples came unto him, 

is a desert place, and the time is and said, This is a desert place, 

now past ; send the multitude away, and now the time is far passed : 3 6. 

that they may go into the villages, Send them away, that they may go 

and buy themselves victuals. 16. into the count?-!/ round about, and 



ST JOHN. 



303 



But Jesus said uuto them, They need 
not depart ; give ye them to eat. 
17. And they say unto him, TTe 
have here but five loaves, and two 
fishes. 18. He said, Bring them 
hither to me. 



19. And he commanded the mul- 
titude to sit down on the grass, 
and took the five loaves, and the 
two fishes, and, looking up to hea- 
ven, he blessed, and brake, and 
gave the loaves to his disciples, and 
the disciples to the multitude. 



20. And they did all eat, and 
were filled : and they took up of 
the fragments that remained twelve 
baskets full. 21. And they that had 
eaten were about five thousand 
men, besides women and children. 

St Luke ix. 12-17. 
And when the day began to wear 
away, then came the twelve, and 
said unto him, Send the multitude 
away, that they may go into the 
towns and country round about, and 
lodge, and get victuals ; for we are 
here in a desert place. 13. But he 
said unto them, Give ye them to eat. 
And they said, "We have no more 
but five loaves and two fishes ; ex- 
cept we should go and buy meat 
for all this people. For they were 
about five thousand men. 



14. And he said to his disciples, 
Make them sit down by fifties in a 



into the villages, and buy them- 
selves bread: for they have no- 
thing to eat. 37. He answered and 
said unto them, Give ye them to 
eat. And they say unto him, Shall 
we go and buy two hundred penny- 
worth of bread, and give them to 
eat? 38. He saith unto them, How 
many loaves have ye ? go and see. 
And when they knew, they say, 
Five, and two fishes. 

39. And he commanded them 
to make all sit down by companies 
upon the green grass. 40. And they 
sat down in ranks, by hundreds, 
and by fifties. 41. And when he had 
taken the five loaves and the two 
fishes, he looked up to heaven, 
and blessed, and brake the loaves, 
and gave them to his disciples to 
set before them ; and the two fishes 
divided he among them all. 

42. And they did all eat, and 
were filled. 43. And they took up 
twelve baskets full of the frag- 
ments, and of the fishes. 44. And 
they that did eat of the loaves were 
about five thousand men. 

St Jorrx vi. 5-15. 

When Jesus then lifted up his 
eyes, and saw a great company come 
unto him, he saith unto Philip, 
Whence shall we buy bread, that 
these may eat? 6. (And this he said 
to prove him: for he himself hietv 
what he ivould do) . 7 . Philip answer- 
ed him, Two hundred pennyworth 
of bread is not sufficient for them, 
that every one of them may take a 
little. 8. One of his disciples, An- 
drew, Simon Peter's brother, saith 
unto him, 9. There is a lad here, 
which hath five barley loaves, and 
two small fishes : but what are 
they among so many? 

10. And Jesus said, Make the 
men sit down. Now there was 



304 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 






company. 15. And they did so, and 
made them all sit down. 16. Then 
he took the five loaves and the two 
fishes, and looking up to heaven, 
he blessed them, and brake, and 
gave to the disciples to set before 
the multitude. 

17. And they did eat, and were 
all filled: and there was taken up 
of fragments that remained to them 
twelve baskets. 



much grass in the place. So the 
men sat down, in number about 
five thousand. 1 1 . And Jesus took 
the loaves : and when he had given 
thanks, he distributed to the dis- 
ciples, and the disciples to them 
that were set down ; and likewise of 
the fishes as much as they would. 

12. When they were filled, he 
said unto his disciples, Gather up 
the fragments that remain, that 
nothing be lost. 13. Therefore they 
gathered them together, and filled 
twelve baskets with the fragments 
of the five barley loaves, which 
remained over and above unto them 
that had eaten. 14. Then those men, 
when they had seen the miracle that 
Jesus did, said, This is of a truth 
that prophet that should come into 
the world. 1 5 . When Jesus therefore 
perceived that they would come and 
take him by force, to make him a 
king, he departed again into a 
mountain himself alone. 



Here again we find the first three Gospels maintaining 
their consistency in the character of their here very slight 
mutual differences. St Matthew gives the first outline; 
St Mark fills up that outline with some important and 
picturesque details; St Luke in his own style faithfully 
follows St Mark. But St John's gleanings are here again 
highly important. We can perceive at a glance the 
personal recollections of the eyewitness and the apostle 
in the introduction of what passed between our Lord and 
the two Apostles — Philip (verses 5-7) and Andrew (verse 
8) — previous to the miracle. Equally evident is it that 
the same fourth Evangelist, assuming as known through 
the first three Gospels the words addressed by the dis- 
ciples to Jesus (St Matth. v. 15; St Mark v. 35, 36; 
Luke v. 12), proceeds to fill up and complete the narra- 



ST JOHff. 305 

live Avitli the words which the Saviour expressly addressed 
to Philip, instead of what the first three Gospels (St Matth. 
v. 16; St Mark v. 37; St Luke y. 13) have recorded as 
spoken to the disciples in general. We there also find 
the explanatory parentheses which we hare repeatedly 
remarked as peculiar to St John. The precise statement 
of the sum (two hundred pence), requisite for buying the 
quantity of bread that was necessary, is found among the 
synoptical Evangelists only in St Mark (v. 37); it is 
from him that St John takes it (v. 7). Further, our 
fourth Evangelist introduces his short and simple paren- 
thesis: Now there was much grass in the place. But 
what strikes us as especially interesting is the mention, 
found only in his Gospel, of the lad (v. 9) who had 
five loaves and two fishes. Slight as we may think this 
additional detail, it enhances, nevertheless, both the un- 
varnished truthfulness of the narrative and the perfect 
consistency of the occurrence. Further, St John is the 
only one who tells us what kind of bread it was that was 
multiplied : they were not wheaten but barley loaves 
(v. 9, 13); whence we infer that it was the bread of the 
humbler classes. There is something touching, too. in 
our being told, when the fishes are mentioned, that of this 
additional food, there was granted (v. 11) as much as 
theii would; as likewise the principle laid down only 
here with respect to the gathering up of the fragments 
that remained: that nothing be lost. The close of the 
narrative is not less important and characteristic. The 
multitudes that had witnessed this mighty miracle, pro- 
claimed that Jesus was the great prophet that was looked 
for in Israel; nay, they would by force, were it necessary, 
and acting according to their carnal notions, make him ting. 
Jesus is aware of their design. He disengages himself from 

u 



306 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



that unlawful movement, and departs into the mountain 
alone. Thus, again, does our apostolic Evangelist give a 
reason, as it were, in passing, for what the Synoptics had 
already mentioned ; namely, that the disciples, in com- 
pliance with their Lord's express order, had returned 
towards the sea alone, while he himself remained ashore, 
on the mountain, there to pray, and to observe them from 
a distance. What happened afterwards on the sea in the 
course of the night, we find recorded by St Matthew and 
St Mark alone of the three synoptical Evangelists, while 
by St John it is here, in his own peculiar manner, assumed 
as known, but elucidated, and further completed. 



Matth. xiv. 22. 

And straightway 
Jesus constrained his 
disciples to get into a 
ship, and to go before 
him unto the other side, 
while he sent the mul- 
titudes away. 23. And 
when he had sent the 
multitudes away, he 
went up into a mountain 
apart to pray: and 
when the evening was 
come, he was there 
alone. 24. But the ship 
was now in the midst 
of the sea, tossed with 
Avaves: for the wind was 
contrary. 25. And in 
the fourth watch of the 
night Jesus went unto 
them, walking on the 
sea. 26. And when the 
disciples saw him walk- 
ing on the sea, they 
were troubled, saying, 
It is a spirit ; and the} r 
cried out for fear. 27. 
But straightway Jesus 



Makk vi. 45. 
And straightway he 
constrained his dis- 
ciples to get into the 
ship, and to go to the 
other side before unto 
Bethsaida,whilehesent 
away the people. 46. 
And when he had sent 
them away, he departed 
into a mountain to pray. 

47. And when even was 
come, the ship was in 
the midst of the sea, 
and he alone on the land . 

48. And he saw them 
toiling in rowing; (for 
the wind was contrary 
unto them :) and about 
the fourth watch of the 
night he cometh unto 
them, walking upon the 
sea, and would have 
passed by them. 49. 
But when they saw him 
walking upon the sea, 
they supposed it had 
been a spirit, and cried 
oat: 50. (Tor they all 



John vi. 16. 



And when even was 
now come, his disciples 
went downuntothesea, 
17. And entered into 
a ship, and went over 
the sea toward Caper- 
naum. And it was now 
dark, and Jesus was 
not come to them. 1 8. 
And the sea arose by 
reason of a great wind 
th at blew. 1 9 . So when 
they had rowed about 
five and twenty or thirty 
furlongs, they see Jesus 
walking on the sea, and 
drawing nigh unto the 
ship: and they were 



ST JOHH. 



307 



spake unto them, say- 
ing, Be of good cheer; 
it is I; be not afraid. 

28. And Peter answer- 
ed him and said, Lord, if 
it be thou, bid me come 
unto thee on the water. 

29. And he said, Come. 
And when Peter was 
come down out of the 
ship, he walked on the 
water, to go to Jesus. 

30. But when he saw the 
wind boisterous, he was 
afraid ; and beginning 
to sink, he cried, say- 
ing, Lord, save me. 

31. And immediately 
Jesus stretched forth his 
hand, and caught him, 
and said unto him, 
thou of little faith, 
wherefore didst thou 
doubt? 

32. And when they 
were come into the ship, 
the wind ceased. Then 
they that were in the 
ship came and wor- 
shipped him, saving, 
Of a truth thou art the 
Son of God. 



saw him, and were trou- 
bled :) and immediately 
he talked with them, 
and saith unto them, 
Be of good cheer ; it is 
I; be not afraid. 



51. And he went up 
unto them into the ship: 
and the wind ceased: 
and they were sore 
amazed in themselves 
beyond measure, and 
wondered. 



afraid. 20. But he saith 
unto them, It is I ; be 
not afraid. 



21. Then they ivill- 
inghj received him into 
the ship: 1 and immedi- 
ately the ship was at the 
land whither they went, 



Here, again, all apparent contradiction is removed, by 
distinguishing correctly the several plans and objects of 
the writers. St Matthew and St Mark on the one hand, 
and St John on the other, seem, at first sight, on more 



1 "K6e\ov \afie7v avrov, they willed to take Mm in, here means not mere will 
and intention, but the willingness with which the thing was done, as the trans- 
lation very well expresses it: they willingly received him into the ship. This 
use of the word idekeiv, to will, is justified among other passages by a very 
decisive one in Xenophon de Cyri disciplind, lib. i. cap. i. § 3. "HdiKov avra 
vnciKoveiv, they willed to obey Aim, that is evidently, they obeyed Mm willingly, 
with joy. 



308 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

than one point, to differ. In the first place, According 
to the two former Evangelists, it was Jesns himself that sent 
away the multitudes ; according to St John (at verse 1 5th, 
as we saw above,) Jesus withdrew, and repaired to the 
solitude of the mountain, because he perceived that they 
would come and take him by force, and make him a king. 
The contradiction disappears, provided we but read 
attentively the passage in St John, and carefully distin- 
guish the successive moments of time. The sending 
aivay of the multitudes, mentioned by St Matthew and 
St Mark, must be understood to apply to the moment 
when the repast was over, although that particular, 
placed out of the chronological order, as is usual with 
those two writers, might appear, according to their re- 
presentation, to have followed after the departure of the 
disciples (ver. 45, 46). Here we cannot have recourse 
to St Luke, as that Evangelist says nothing of the trans- 
actions of the night in question. So much the more 
important are the elucidation and amplification we receive 
from St Johns Gospel. Now it is he that bids us 
remark that Jesus, knowing what passed in man's heart, 
and wishing to elude all attempts towards a movement 
intended for the purpose of making him a king, imme- 
diately (Matth. v. 22) obliged his disciples to embark 
without him, while he himself withdrew from the obser- 
vation of all men, repairing to the mountain as the 
multitude were looking for him among the disciples. 
Further light is cast on these circumstances by the 
parenthesis contained in verses 22-25, which likewise 
presents a strong confirmation of the miracle of our 
Lord's walking on the sea of Galilee (v. 25). Secondly, 
According to the two synoptical Evangelists, the night 
was already far spent when Jesus came upon the 



ST JOHff. 309 

waters of the sea to the vessel in which the disciples had 
embarked. St John alone mentions, according to his 
usual practice, the precise distance at winch the disciples 
were from the land when they saw the Lord. Neither 
is there here the shadow of a contradiction ; but while 
the synoptical Evangelists call attention to the length 
of the time, St John informs us of the little progress 
they had made during all that time. No wonder : the 
wind was contrary (Matth. v. 24, Mark v. 48), and 
(John v. 18), the sea arose by reason of a great wind that 
bleiv. In the third place, St John here says nothing of 
the trepidation of the disciples, who thought that they saw 
a spirit, or even of what occurred and was said betwixt 
St Peter and our Lord ; all this he assumes as suffi- 
ciently known already, and confines himself to the 
person and the doings of his Master, simply setting his 
apostolical seal to the testimony of the synoptical narra- 
tives, by his brief mention of that great miracle, and by 
the addition, in precise terms, of a circumstance (the five 
and twenty or thirty furlongs, v. 19), to which none 
but an eyewitness, with a lively recollection of all that 
passed, would have thought of adverting here. And, 
fourthly, Whereas the synoptical Evangelists represent 
Jesus as entering the ship along with St Peter, and the 
other disciples as lost in amazement and adoration at what 
they had seen, St John further directs our attention to 
but one striking trait : those who but a moment before 
had cried out in terror and dismay at the sight of Jesus, 
supposing that they saw a spirit, now received him 
willingly. The subsidence of the boisterous sea, the 
cessation of the contrary wind, and their progress with- 
out further hindrance until they reached the other side- 
all this is expressed by St John in this very simple con- 



310 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



elusion : and immediately the ship ivas at the land 
whither they went (v. 21), Here ends the narrative, 
which the synoptical Evangelists have in common with 
St John. The latter then follows it up, by giving the 
practical and spiritual application of the miracle of the 
loaves. He alone has preserved for us the discourses of 
Jesus at Capernaum (vi. 25-59) : I am the bread of life. 
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinheth my blood, hath 
eternal life. 






GENERAL REVIEW. 3 1 1 



VI. RESULT OF THE PRECEDING 
OBSERVATIONS. 



We are now, in this section, to present, we would fain 
hope, in a more palpable manner, the results obtained 
from the collective observations put down in the pre- 
ceding pages, in the course of our review of each of the 
four Gospels ; and to exhibit these in their application to 
our Lord's passion, which, in all the four Gospels, crowns 
the entire work of their inspired narratives. 

Before, however, proceeding to this last part of our 
design, we conceive that it will be useful to state these 
results in a few lines, and in their grand features, in order 
that we may attain to a definite determination of the 
principles required for a true and solid harmony of the 
Gospels. 

To us who look for the true certainty and defence of 
the Scriptures in the Scriptures themselves, these results 
possess a double interest. They establish, in what to 



312 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 



us appears a peremptory manner, upon a true and sure 
principle, the perfect accordance that exists among the 
Gospels ; but they demonstrate, also, to the satisfaction 
of any sound and clear understanding, the authenticity 
and divine origin at once of the contents and structure 
of each severally, and of the general plan and collective 
character of the four Gospels as one whole. 

We begin this view with the second point we have 
mentioned, to end it afterwards by glancing at the prin- 
cipal results and rules which may and ought to guide us 
in the establishment of a sound and true harmony of the 
Gospels. 

We have examined the Gospels, successively and 
separately, in connexion with the individuality of the 
authors whose name they bear, and in connexion, too, 
with the truths to which they testify. And we have 
found in all of them alike, a character of authenticity 
that could never have been imitated, or even approached, 
by any writer of fiction, or even by any one who was not 
himself a Christian. We have seen at once, in the 
manner in which the Evangelists tell their story, espe- 
cially when they point to themselves, or rather, as much 
as possible, withdraw from view, shun publicity, abase, 
and, so to speak, annihilate themselves — the grand 
fundamental principle of their Master's preaching — self- 
denial, humility. Those same men whom we have seen, 
according to what they themselves say, during their inter- 
course with their Master on earth, disputing with each 
other about precedence, with all the eagerness of men 
who are as averse to disgrace and suffering as they are 
bent on temporal greatness and glory— those same men, 
together with their fellows and followers, now present in 



GENERAL REVIEW. 313 

their writings (always without any premeditation or 
ostentation), the most unequivocal proofs of the change 
of heart and mind that had taken place in them : now 
they have nothing so much at heart as to give glory to 
their Lord, to practise humility, to esteem every one his 
neighbour better than himself, and wholly to forget their 
own personality. That the writer of the first of the four 
Gospels was St Matthew, he who was called to the 
apostleship from the receipt of custom, was proved, just 
by the manner in which, as respects himself, he gives 
prominence to the general disrespect in which the pub- 
licans were held ; and on the contrary, as respects his 
fellow Apostle, St Peter, to the latter s faith and 
priority of calling, along with his brother Andrew. 1 
St Mark, on the contrary, who was the intimate and 
confidential friend of St Peter, shews the extent to which 
that Apostle influenced his narrations, precisely by the 
circumstance, that what he lias recorded with respect to 
him, has a tendency rather to Ins humiliation than his 
exaltation. 2 St Luke, notwithstanding the important 
place he held in the history of the preaching of the 
Gospel, conceals both his name and person, under a 
modest and humble ice. 2. Even St John, at a far ad- 
vanced time of life, and when he might be said to be on 
the verge of eternity, makes himself known to us only by 
one anonymous denomination, and that so simple withal, 
the disciple whom Jesus loved. Assuredly this is not 
the manner in which men who seek to acquire influence 
and authority are accustomed to act with respect to 
themselves or to their designs ; we may be satisfied 
that so just a conception, and so natural an expression 

1 See pp. 1 and 3. 2 See p. 48. 3 See p. 10S. 



814 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

of the spirit of Christianity, of the mind of Christ, 
never can be reconciled with any idea, either of pre- 
meditated invention, or of party spirit, or of selfish 
contrivance. 

To the same result we are more and more conducted, 
by a more extensive and deeper view of the four Gospels. 
We found each of these, in its general structure, its style, 
its composition, nay more, even in the minutest of its 
individual details, giving an equally manifest and unpre- 
meditated expression of the respective individuality of its 
author. We found, reversing the process, an individuality, 
consistent throughout with itself, so distinctly marking 
each of the Evangelists, that from the tenor and contents 
of the writing, the person and personal qualities of the 
writer discovered themselves to us with the most con- 
vincing certainty. Thus it was that we saw in each of 
the details peculiar to St Matthew, in the entire tendency 
of his narrative, in the point of view from which he 
delineates events, in his whole style and language, the 
manifest expression by himself of the publican received 
into favour, the apostolical eyewitness, the disciple sprung 
from Israel. In the Gospel of St Mark, the whole style 
and plan of the narrative revealed to us the Roman soldier 
converted to Christ, nay (in connexion with the proofs of 
his close intimacy with St Peter) that soldier who was 
of the household of Cornelius the centurion, who was 
deputed on the part of that household to go to the 
Apostle, and who conducted him to it. St Luke's Gospel 
betrayed to us in every particular the intimate friend and 
companion of St Paul, the physician by profession, the 
active, affectionate, and faithful servant of the Churches, a 
Gentile in point of origin, a friend of Israel, and the author 



GNENERAL REVIEW. 315 

of the Acts of the Apostles. St John's Gospel enabled 
us to see into the very soul of the disciple who, in the 
flower of early manhood, enjoyed the most endearing 
familiarity with his Master, and in a not less flourishing 
old age, brought to light, with the most sublime sim- 
plicity, the profoundest manifestations of the divine 
subsistence, atoning love, and glorious future advent of 
the Lord. 

And, in addition to all this, every kind of exuberance, 
both of variety and of harmony, is found in most intimate 
union with what we have remarked. Here are four Gospels, 
all not in unison, but in harmony with each other, of which 
the First lays the foundations, taking these from the Pro- 
phecies of the Old Testament ; the Second builds upon that 
foundation, and elucidates and confirms its predecessor with 
the help of details that are always more definite, more rich, 
and more picturesque : the Third sets itself beforehand 
to arrange matters historically, develops its subjects 
regularly, and explains them psychologically ; the Fourth 
deduces the whole anew from its first beginnings, and 
traces it back to its remotest origin ; — the First relates 
artlessly and fully ; the Second describes with life and 
energy ; the Third gives us an interesting and substantial 
narrative ; the Fourth, a solemn and impressive testimony ; 
— the First is the work of an Israelite, designed originally 
for Israelites ; the Second, that of a Roman, designed for 
Roman Christians ; the Third, that of a Greek, and de- 
signed for all nations ; the Fourth again, that of an 
Israelite, and written for the Church of Israel and the 
Gentiles, without distinction ; — the First preaches Jesus 
Christ as prophet and king ; the Third, Jesus Christ as 
sovereign, priest, and king ; the Second, Jesus Christ as 



316 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Son of man ; the Fourth, Jesus Christ as the only Son of 
Gocl. 

By the same simple view and comparison of Scripture 
which we have instituted, we come clearly to see the 
order of time in which the Gospels followed each other. 
A question which, in the learned world, has given rise to 
so many divergent conjectures, again finds its simplest 
decision here in the contents and structure of those writ- 
ings. The order in which the sacred four have been 
placed in the New Testament collection, from the earliest 
ages {first, St Matthew, next, St Mark, after him, St 
Luke, and, finally, St John), readily proves itself to be 
the only true order. We have only to consider that the 
Evangelist who was an Israelite and eyewitness from 
among the Twelve, and who, by an uninterrupted series of 
quotations, deduces all from, and attaches all to the Old 
Testament, and to Israel's expectation of a Christ — the 
Evangelist who relates facts without attending to their 
order, and in their first freshness, and in their first ful- 
ness, necessarily behoved to be the first Evangelist in 
the order of time. We find in the Gospel of St Matthew, 
neither more nor less than a true mother-gospel When, 
by the side of this first Gospel, by the side of this mother- 
gospel, we place that of St Mark, we see it follow its 
predecessor almost point by point, in the adoption even of 
entire phrases, and in an almost uninterrupted agreement 
in the course of the narrative ; and yet we see, at the 
same time, that it is substantially distinguished from its 
predecessor by the most characteristic insertions, sup- 
pressions, emphatizings, and inversions ; while St Luke, 
following, as well as St Mark, the main thread of St 
Matthew's narrative, borrows details from St Mark in the 



GENERAL REVIEW. 31 7 

most evident manner, augments his history with new facts 
and additions drawn from other sources, and arranges the 
whole not only according to the design he announces (i. 1-4) 
in order, hut also with a depth of conception for which 
there had as yet been no room in the first two Gospels. 1 
It was evidently to be inferred at once, from the nature 
of things, that St John had read the Gospels preceding 
his, had made use of them, and availed himself of them 
as the basis of his Evangelical book, which stands so en- 
tirely apart by itself, and possesses so peculiar a character ; 
St John, who had so long outlived all the rest — St John, 
whom we have seen so repeatedly make tacit allusions 
and references, not only to the facts related by the syn- 
optical Evangelists, but also to those recitals themselves. 2 
This, surely, is after the manner of the men of God 
in the times of old. The Psalmist and Prophet found 
spiritual delight and nourishment in the writings of 
Moses ; Daniel received divine revelations while exploring 
the writings of Jeremiah. Each of the sacred authors 
sought and found nourishment in what had been written 
by his predecessors, never merging his individuality in 
them, yet never independent of them. 

Here, then, in God's revelation, as in his creation and 
government of the world, all is progress, growth, develop- 
ment. As the New Testament is a development from 
the bosom of the Old ; as in the Old itself the Prophets 
are a development first from Moses and then from each 
other ; as in the New the apostolic Epistles are a de- 
velopment from the historical writings ; and as the Book 
of Revelation is a development from the whole preceding 

1 See p. 27, - See p. 232, 



318 THE FOUR WITNESSES, 

Scripture, quite as organically (we may use this expres- 
sion, since the Word of God is a living Word) do the 
four Gospels develop themselves the one from the other. 
Oral tradition (by which we mean the original preaching 
of the Gospel) passes, in the first written memorials of 
the Apostle St Matthew, into the state of a simple 
recital ; in that of St Mark it becomes a description ; 
under the pen of St Luke it runs into a formal histo- 
rical narrative ; in the soul and in the testimony of St 
John it becomes a science, a God-devoted, God-glorifying 
Theology. 

On all sides, as a consequence, we meet with harmony. 
And this is not only between each Evangelist and the 
character of his work and tenor of his testimony, but 
also among the four Evangelists, viewed as the four parts 
of one sublime whole ; and all this, notwithstanding, 
without the possibility of attributing this last harmony, 
with the least appearance of truth, to premeditation on 
the part of the authors, or to any human plan whatever. 
Or can we ascribe it to a human plan, to a human pre- 
meditated purpose, that two Apostles should open and 
close the Evangelical quaternion, while the authors of the 
two intermediate Gospels should be proved by us to have 
been on terms of the closest intimacy with two other 
highly privileged disciples and apostles, St Peter and St 
Paul 1 Could it be the effect of human premeditation, 
that precisely such personal qualities, and precisely such 
talents, were successively, regularly, and step by step, as 
it were, employed in constructing the edifice of the four 
Gospels, as we have seen to have been the case with St 
Matthew, St Mark, St Luke, and St John % What we 
have here, consequently, is the plan of Supreme Wisdom. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 319 

After the clear and glorious manifestation we have had of 
it, how can we fail to recognise in the putting together of 
the four parts of the Evangelical testimony, that God who 
every where makes His finger to be seen in the works of 
the visible creation, at once in the combination and mutual 
dependence of parts, and in the analysis of each of them 
in particular % Now, such a work of God is the Scripture 
also, carried out to its close, and executed by the instru- 
mentality of men, living, thinking, inquiring, industrious 
as men, yet at the same time, even in the smallest mat- 
ters, led, overruled, and impelled by God. Scripture, as 
a whole, is the work of God's wisdom. It is in all its 
parts, too, a work of divine inspiration, but at the same 
time a work of human operation. It is altogether a work 
of men called to it by the Church's Lord, and by Him in 
various ways fitted and prepared for it ; it is equally 
altogether the work of God, the inspiration in particular 
of the Holy Ghost, 

What holds true of the Holy Scriptures, considered as 
a whole, in general, is equally true of the four Gospels, 
considered as a fourfold testimony, in particular. Each 
book, or part, has its own proper qualities, its own 
utility, its special object. Each book, or part, has its 
own perfection, and yet they stand in need of each 
other in order to their completion. It holds with re- 
spect to these holy books as with our human body. 
Each member is perfect in itself, but each member is 
not complete in itself. Each of the Gospels has received, 
under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, all that was 
required for its answering its special destination. Still, 
had we had but one, or two, or even three, only of the 
four Gospels, the testimony would have been incomplete. 



320 THE FOUli WITNESSES. 

Had we known only St Matthew's Gospel, for example, we 
should certainly hare had a perfect acquaintance with the 
grand outlines of the Gospel history, but we should have 
been kept in ignorance of a great many of its details, and 
these at once interesting, instructive, and necessary ; we 
should have become acquainted with one of the four sides 
of the edifice, but should have remained ignorant of the 
other three. We should even haye been on several 
points in error, not because the Evangelist himself had 
erred, or had failed in expressing himself properly, but 
because what he had written in order to its enabling 
us to have a complete and perfectly just idea of events, 
stood still absolutely in need of the ulterior elucidations 
supplied by his three successors after him ; and so, in like 
manner, with the rest. The Holy Spirit gives us the 
whole and entire truth in the four Gospels combined, 
but not in any one Gospel standing apart and taken by 
itself. 

And now let us return again, for a few moments, to 
the principles which we have thought capable of recon- 
ciling, without violence, all our four Evangelists. It is 
in vain that an infidel, neological, or wavering theology, 
would undermine the veracity and the authenticity of 
these writings by an ostentatious array of all sorts of 
contradictions which, according to it, are irreconcilable. 
And just as vainly have attempts been made on the 
other side to do away with these contradictions, by wrest- 
ing and twisting the several testimonies according to the 
model of one single testimony ; when persons would, by 
means of an attempt equally narrow-minded and unfor- 
tunate, attribute one sole and the same \Ami to all those 
writers, and in their eagerness to account for their diver- 



GENERAL REVIEW. 321 

sities, place thein all at one and the same point of view, with 
the aid of all sorts of arbitrary and unfounded suppositions. 
Far from this, it is rather the most accurate observation of 
the differences that gives us the key that reconciles them. 
The more we examine our Gospels in detail, as with a 
microscope, the more diversities will multiply under our 
eyes ; but the more also shall we find these diversities con- 
sistent, and so consistent that they constitute in each of 
the four Gospels a particular and distinctive character. 
And once that we have found this special character of 
each Gospel, we have also found the way to bring all these 
real diversities and apparent contradictions into one 
final and harmonious unity. 

What we have in this respect observed and discovered 
in the course of our analysis of the four Gospels, we may 
now be permitted to condense and exhibit in a few rules, 
and these we leave, with all confidence, to be applied 
to the whole contents of these sacred writings, although 
it is of some portions only that we could treat in this 
Essay. 

1. The four Evangelists, although the one who imme- 
diately precedes may have been known to, and used 
as a source of information by, the next in succession, 
nevertheless wrote with an equal independence with 
respect to each other, and with an equal dependence 
on the Holy Ghost. 

2. The four Gospels do not all present us with a nar- 
ration of the same facts, neither do they all relate the 
same discourses in the same words. Each Evangelist 
has made his own choice according to a certain fixed 
plan; to each had been assigned his own part, according 
to his particular character and calling. 



322 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



3. The Evangelists often differ the one from the other 
with regard to the order in which they place the facts that 
had happened, as well as with regard to the words that 
had been pronounced. 

4. St Matthew joins together, and accumulates homo- 
geneous facts and discourses. St Luke places facts and 
words in their historical succession. St Mark makes the 
transition betwixt the first and the third Gospel. Ac- 
cording as his plan seems to require, he either adheres 
to the order of St Matthew, or corrects it, proceeding 
at once to supply particulars that St Matthew had 
omitted in his narrative. St John seldom displaces, 
unless it be in the way of the insertion of some new 
detail, or to account for some particular circumstance. 

5. St Matthew relates matters fully, and with an abun- 
dance of expressions, yet without any fulness of descrip- 
tive details. St Mark presents quite a richness of details, 
by which he elucidates and delineates the incident he 
relates, and places it as if fully before our eyes. The 
details given by St Luke touch more upon the interior of 
things. St John gives a variety of them, with much 
fulness, entirely new, and all in harmony with the depth 
and elevation of his sublime point of view, and his 
vocation as Apostle-Prophet. 

6. The Evangelists often differ in the noting down of 
numbers and ciphers. 

St Matthew loves the plural, which St Luke, and, for 
the most part, St Mark already before him, record in the 
effective singular. This plural of the mother-gospel may 
be traced to the point of view from which its author 
wrote, and which led him to look rather to the species 
than to the individual to the collective idea more than 



GENERAL REVIEW. 323 

to isolated events. The ciphers introduced by St John 
point to his being an eyewitness, and complete the perfect 
accuracy of the entire testimony. 

7. The Evangelists have committed to writing the 
words of different speakers, and of the Lord Jesus him- 
self, in different manners. All give a true expression of 
the meaning, being authentic interpreters as well as 
truthful annotators. St Matthew, by means of peri- 
phrastic expressions, elucidates the sentences which he 
records, or clothes with words mental ideas originally 
expressed not in words. St Mark repeatedly gives the 
precise literal and original word. St Luke is equally 
precise and simple in mentioning the words as in relating 
the facts. St John renders the words and discourses as 
he has preserved them, as they still sound in his ears, as 
they developed themselves in his own soul. 



324 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



VII. THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION, 



What the Apostle Paul says, in writing to the men of 
Corinth, I determined not to know anything among you, 
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, we already find 
strikingly realized in the composition of the Gospels. 
Alike in describing the details of our Lord and Saviour's 
life, and in preaching the power of his name and the truth 
of his doctrine — his cross, the blood of his cross, that is 
to say, his propitiatory sufferings and death, is the point in 
which the whole Gospel, so to speak, is summed up and 
concentrated. The history of his last passion and of his 
death, of his burial and glorious resurrection, is properly 
the focus of the Gospel. To the description of that 
scene of sorrow, that death, and that resurrection, all the 
four Gospels have given the greatest extension, by fully 
recording the details therewith connected. Here, however, 
as well as everywhere else, they preserve their proper 
character, all severally presenting the same mutual bear- 
ings to each other as in the rest of their writings. In the 
narrative of the passion, as well as elsewhere, all the 
details are not recorded bv all of them ; in the narrative 



THE NARK ATI YES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 325 

of the passion, as well as elsewhere, each of the four 
Evangelists sees, describes, relates, testifies in the manner 
peculiar to his own particular point of view. A glance 
at the history of our Lord's passion, as it makes an impor- 
tant part of the fourfold harmony of our Gospels, may 
supply us with a final means of proving the truth of the 
observations which we have offered in detail in the course 
of these pages. 

The history of our Lord's passion may be regarded as 
having for its introduction the last celebration of the 
Passover, which was at the same time the institution of 
the Holy Supper. We have been accustomed to com- 
prise in that history also the last supper at Bethany, on 
account of the close connexion between the two. We 
shall, for the like reason, include the supper at Bethany 
and the treachery of Judas, in giving that part of the 
Gospels which we are now about to review ; and not only 
those facts, which occurred two days before the Passover, 
but, further, the entrance of the Lord Jesus into Jeru- 
salem, on the foal of an ass, on the first day previous to 
that feast, because of the intimate connexion of that event 
with the whole history of the passion ; especially, we may 
add, because these different parts, in their intimate con- 
nexion, will bring out the great importance of the Gospel 
of St John, in particular, in establishing the true sequence 
of events. 

THE ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM. 

Matth. xxi. 1—11. Mark xi. 1-10. 

And when they drew nigh unto And when they came nigh to 

Jerusalem, and were come to Beth- Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and 

phage, unto the mount of Olives, Bethany, at the mount of Olives, 

then sent Jesus two disciples, 2. he sendeth forth two of his dis- 

Sayiug unto them, Go into the vil- ciples, 2. And saith unto them, 

lage over against you, and straight- Go your way into the village over 

way ye shall find an ass tied, and against you : and as soon as ye be 



326 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



a colt with her : loose them, andbring 
them unto nie. 3. And if any man 
say ought unto you, ye shall say, 
The Lord hath need of them ; and 
straightway he will send them. 



4. All this was done, that it might 
be fulfilled which was spoken by 
the prophet, saying, 5. Tell ye 
the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy 
King cometh unto thee, meek, and 
sitting upon an ass. 

6. And the disciples went, and 
did as Jesus commanded them, 7. 
And brought the ass, and the colt, 
and put on them their clothes (Gr. 
eV dvTcop), and they set him there- 
on (Gr. eV avrav) — lit. : on them. 



entered into it, ye shall find a colt 
tied, whereon never man sat ; loose 
him, and bring him. 3. And if any 
man say unto you, Why do ye this? 
say ye that the Lord hath need of 
him; and straightway he will send 
him hither. 



8. And a very great multitude 
spread their garments in the way; 
others cut down branches from the 
trees, and strawed them in the way. 
9. And the multitudes that went be- 
fore, and that followed, cried, say- 
ing, Hosanna to the son of David : 
Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the 
highest. 

1 0. And when he was come into 
Jerusalem, all the city was moved, 
saying, Who is this? 11. And the 
multitude said, This is Jesus the 
prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. 

Luke xix. 29. Jornr xii. 12. 

And it came to pass, when he On the next day much people 

was come nigh to Bethphage and that were come to the feast, when 

Bethany, at the mount called the they heard that Jesus was coming 

mount of Olives, he sent two of his to Jerusalem, 13. Took branches 



4. And they went their way, and 
found the colt tied by the door 
without, in a place where two 
ways met; and they loose him. 
5. And certain of them that stood 
there said unto them, "What do 
ye, loosing the colt ? 6. And they 
said unto them even as Jesus had 
commanded: and they let them go. 
7. And they brought the colt to 
Jesus, and cast their garments on 
him (avrcp) ; and he sat upon him 

(eV a\iT(f). 

8. And many spread their gar- 
ments in the way; and others cut 
down branches off the trees, and 
strawed them in the way. 9. And 
they that went before, and they that 
followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; 
Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord: 10. Blessed 
be the kingdom of our father David, 
that cometh in the name of the 
Lord: Hosanna in the highest. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



327 



disciples, 30. Saying, Go ye into 
the village over against you ; in the 
which at your entering ye shall 
find a colt tied, whereon yet never 
man sat: loose Mm, and bring Mm 
hither. 31. And if any man ask 
you, Why do ye loose him? thus 
shall ye say unto him, Because the 
Lord hath need of him. 



32. And they that were sent 
went their way, and found even 
as he had said unto them. 33. 
And as they were loosing the colt, 
the owners thereof said unto them, 
Why loose ye the colt? 34. And 
they said, The Lord hath need of 
him. 35. And they brought him 
to Jesus: and they cast their gar- 
ments upon the colt, and they set 
Jesus thereon. 

36. And as he went, they spread 
their clothes in the way. 37. And 
when he was come nigh, even now 
at the descent of the mount of 
Olives, the whole multitude of the 
disciples began to rejoice and praise 
God with a loud voice for all the 
mighty works that they had seen ; 
38. Saying, Blessed be the King 
that cometh in the name of the 
Lord: peace in heaven, and glory 
in the highest. 

39. And some of the Pharisees 
from among the multitude said 
unto him, Master, rebuke thy dis- 
ciples. 40. And he answered and 
said unto them, I tell you that, if 
these should hold their peace, the 



of palm-trees, and went forth to 
meet him, and cried, Hosanna : 
Blessed is the King of Israel that 
cometh in the name of the Lord. 



14. And Jesus, when he had 
found a young ass, sat thereon ; as 
it is written, 15. Fear not, daughter 
ofZion: behold, thy king cometh, 
sitting on an ass's colt. 16. These 
things understood not his disciples 
at the first: but when Jesus was 
glorified, then remembered they that 
these things were written of him, 
and that he had said this. 



17. The people therefore that 
was with him bare record that he 
had called Lazarus out of his grave, 
and raised him from the dead. 18. 
For this cause the people also met 
him, for that they heard that he 
had done this miracle. 



19. The Pharisees therefore said 
among themselves, Perceive ye how 
ye prevail nothing? behold, the 
world is gone after him. 



328 THE FOUB WITNESSES. 

stones would immediately cry out. 
41. And when lie was come near, 
he beheld the city, and wept over 
it, 42. Saying, Ifthouhadst known, 
even thou, at least in this thy day, 
the things which belong unto thy 
peace! but now they are hid from 
thine eyes. 43. For the days shall 
come upon thee, that thine enemies 
shall cast a trench about thee, and 
compass thee round, and keep thee 
in on every side, 44. And shall 
lay thee even with the ground, and 
thy children within thee; and they 
shall not leave in thee one stone 
upon another; because thouknewest 
not the time of thy visitation. 



The three synoptical Gospels agree here, almost lite- 
rally, at least at the commencement; differences, never- 
theless, are not absolutely wanting. The place desig- 
nated by St Matthew (verse 1) under the name of Beth- 
phage only, is called by St Mark (verse 1), and by St 
Luke (verse 29), Bethphage and Bethany. By these three 
last words one must not understand (as we shall see here- 
after) two different places, but the meeting-point at which 
Bethphage (a small place belonging to the territory of 
Jerusalem) adjoins Bethany, which is situated at some 
distance from the capital. 

As to what follows with respect to the animal on which 
Jesus made his entrance into Jerusalem, it must be 
observed that St Matthew alone makes mention of the 
colt, and of the she-ass of which it was the foal, while St 
Mark and St Luke speak only of the colt. This particular 
is intimately connected with the prophecy of Zacharias, 
which, we may again observe, St Matthew alone (verses 
4 and 5) quotes, and where both are expressly named. 
To the Prophet, as well as to the Apostle whose Gospel 



THE NAKEATIVES OF OUK LOKD S PASSION. 329 

has the closest affinity with the Old Testament prophecies, 
the mention of the she-ass serves only to indicate that 
the ass was a colt whereon (as St Mark and St Luke 
afterwards express it) never man sat. The two last 
Evangelists had only to do with the fact as it actually 
happened in the fulfilment ; on this account they nowhere 
speak of any thing but the colt on which the Saviour 
was placed by his disciples. St Matthew alone, after 
his peculiar manner, so identifies 1 in this passage the two 
objects in the words he employs, that in the seventh 
verse he each time uses a plural, which, literally taken, 
would produce a kind of nonsense. What he evidently 
means to say is nothing more than what St Mark (verse 
7), and St Luke (verse 35), express in simple terms, 
namely, that Jesus was seated, not certainly on two beasts 
of burthen, but only on the colt. That, nevertheless, at 
the time of the entrance into Jerusalem, the ass should 
have accompanied the colt is not only a very possible 
circumstance, but one which it is all the more easy to 
conceive to have happened, from the colt having suf- 
fered itself to be detached and mounted without resistance. 

St Mark (verse 4) indicates exactly and graphically the 
spot where the colt was found tied by the door without, 
in a place where two vjays met, to wit : precisely on the 
confines of Bethany and Bethphage. 

St Mark (verses 6 and 7), and St Luke (verses 33 and 
34), give a fuller report also of the conversation betwixt 
the two disciples and the men of Bethphage than we find 
in St Matthew, who, with respect to that circumstance 
(verse 6), is very concise. 

Again, we find our Lord's going to Jerusalem given in 
greater detail by St Mark (verses 5 and 6); but by St 

1 P. 61. 



330 THE FOUE WITNESSES. 

Luke (verses 36-38) the motives that influenced the 
people are more fully expressed than by St Matthew 
(verses 8, 9). To the cries of Hosannah which burst 
from the multitude, St Mark adds that important inser- 
tion : Blessed be the hingdom of our father David, (the 
kingdom) that cometh in the name of the Lord ! instead 
of the Hosannah to the Son of David, which we find in 
St Matthew. Then St Luke fixes our attention rather on 
the invjard emotions of the multitude of the disciples ; 
the joy, 1 and the praises to God resulting from that joy, 2 
and the cause that particularly gave birth to that feeling, 
to wit, for all the mighty works that they had seen; all 
which is more fully explained to us in St John (verse 1 7) 
by the resurrection there mentioned of Lazarus. 

After this, St Matthew (verse 10) transports us into 
the midst of Jerusalem, where the whole people are in a 
state of excitement, there to fix our regards anew on the 
prophetic ministry of the Saviour (verse 11). 

St Luke (verses 39-44), as we have remarked on a 
preceding occasion, 3 has preserved for us that touching 
address to Jerusalem, called forth by the bitter enmity 
expressed by some of the Pharisees, and pronounced by 
the meek and compassionate Saviour as he wept over the 
city (verse 41). 

St John sums up all that happened in details, which are 
remarkable at once for their brevity and their freshness 
(verses 12-19). In relating these, he follows an order 
which is peculiar to himself; first, the Hosannah; after 
that, parenthetically, the placing of Jesus on the colt, and, 
in connexion with this, the calling to mind of the prophecy 
of Zacharias; then what called forth the shouts of joy from 
the multitude ; and, finally, the desperate and deep-seated 

1 See p. 174, sqq, 2 See p. 175, sqq. 3 See p. 182. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 331 

animosity of the Pharisees. Then, further, he exactly de- 
termines the time (verse 12) : on the next day, and the 
occasion, the feast; immediately after that, the waving of 
the branches of the palm-tree, which, according to the 
Israelitic custom, accompanied the shouts of Hosannah 
(verse 13). 1 Here, too, only do we find the title of 
King of Israel (verse 13). In quoting the prophecy, he 
adds the manner in which the disciples for the first 
time, but not until the departure and glorification of 
Jesus, remembered that those things were ivritten of him 
(verse 16). St Matthew (verse 5) gives the very words 
of Zacharias, with a supplementary quotation from 
Isaiah. 2 In St John we read those words in a very 
abridged form. 

And now let us reply to the allegation of an apparent 
contradiction, the solution of which has been acknowledged 
by many interpreters to be a matter of great difficulty. 
It is twofold. 1st, According to the synoptical Gospels, 
the going from Bethany to Jerusalem seems to have taken 
place immediately, and as if it were a prolongation of the 
journey to Jericho and Jerusalem, without there being 
the slightest mention made of any delay, of any supper, 
or of any spending of the night at Bethany (as these 
are mentioned by St John). 2d, This sojourn of Jesus 
at Bethany does not seem to agree with what is positively 
recorded by the synoptical Evangelists ; namely, that on 
his approaching Bethphaoe and Bethany the two dis- 
ciples were sent to seek the ass's colt, a circumstance 
totally inexplicable if Jesus really passed that night at 
Bethany. 

Now, with respect to the former of these objections, the 

1 Gr. to. /3aVa tcov cfioiviKGiv. - Zach. ix. 9, Isa. lxii. 11. 



332 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

solemn entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem is no doubt 
immediately connected by the three first Evangelists with 
his coming from Jericho. But while their main object 
was to give a representation of the public life of Jesus, 
the object of St John is more particularly to give a pic- 
ture of his intercourse with his most intimate and fondly- 
loved friends. Hence, also, it is that what took place in 
the town of Mary and her sister Martha behoved mainly 
to pertain to the plan of the fourth and last Gospel ; 
namely, the resurrection of Lazarus, the supper, and the 
anointing in the house of Simon, the sleeping in the vil- 
lage, &c. Now all this, passed over in silence by the 
synoptical Evangelists, is inserted in the Gospel of St 
John; and here again, consequently, there is no contra- 
diction, but only a filling up, an explanation, a develop- 
ment. Viewed in this light, the two accounts recipro- 
cally throw light on each other. What, in fact, is more 
natural than that solemn entrance into Jerusalem, starting 
from Bethany in consequence of the ecstasy into which 
the multitude were thrown by their having witnessed the 
raising of Lazarus from the dead 1 

On the contrary, how very unlikely that Jesus, without 
any particular cause for it, on coming directly from Jericho 
with the twelve, should have met with so splendid a recep- 
tion and convoy from the multitude ! The simple state 
of matters is as follows: — The synoptical Evangelists 
give the history of our Lord's entrance as one of the scenes 
of his public life, and as one of the circumstances attend- 
ing his last days on earth. St John goes back to the 
cause and origin of the popular excitement, and gives us 
a view T of the event in all its completeness, by conducting 
us at the same time to the inner circle of intimate friends 
at Bethanv. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 333 

The second objection finds its solution simply in a 
more accurate knowledge of the locality. Former com- 
mentators have already intimated, that Bethphage and 
Bethany, of which St Mark and St Luke speak, must not 
be understood as meaning each of those places separately. 
Were this the case, it would indeed be inexplicable how 
Jesus, after having, as St John tells us, slept at Bethany, 
could have sent forward his disciples to that same 
Bethany to untie the colt. But this Bethphage and 
Bethany is in reality nothing else than the simple Beth- 
phage of St Matthew, and signified (as a more ample 
description of the latter of those places) Bethphage 
bordering on Bethany. It is on this account also, that 
Bethphage is named first, although belonging to the terri- 
tory itself of Jerusalem, since, without that, Bethany ought 
to have had the precedence in speaking of those places. 
To people travelling towards Jerusalem, Bethany lay natu- 
rally before Bethphage ; if, then, we were here to under- 
stand the village that bore that name, the Evangelists be- 
hoved to have said : (first) Bethany and (then) Bethphage. 1 
When Jesus, with his disciples, drew near to this Beth- 
phage and (that is to say, near to) Bethany, he had that 
last village behind him, and having travelled on foot from 
Bethany, where he had passed the night, as far as Beth- 
phage, he sends, when he is at some distance, his two 
disciples to that same Bethphage. It was from thence 



1 Llghtfoot, Opera ii., p. 409, ad Marc. xi. 1. " In itineratione sua accessit 
Christus ad Bethaniam, ibique pernoctavit (John xii.) et ab oppido isto per- 
venerat jam per spatium fere milliaris antequain pertingeret ad Bethphagen. 
Et tamen ab ris dicitur isto ordine : Ad Bethphagen et Bethaniam, ut demon- 
straretur historiam esse intelligendam de loco ubi se mutuo contingunt Bethania 
et Bethphage: Matth.eus ergo Bethphagen nominat solam." Cff. p. 44, 148, 
202, 569, et 570, 754. So likewise Wetstein : " Quidquid est in ambitu 
exteriore Hierosolymorum vocatur Bethphage." Cf. Bengel ad Marc. xi. 1 



334 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



that, shortly afterwards, the procession to Jerusalem 
commenced. 

St John's narrative concerning the Saviour's sojourn at 
Bethany before the entrance into Jerusalem, throws much 
light also on what the Synoptics relate with respect to 
what occurred afterwards ; to wit, how in those days Jesus 
repaired uniformly before night from Jerusalem to the 
mount of Olives, or to Bethany (Matth. xxi. 17, Mark 
xi. 11, 12, Luke xxi. 37). 



THE SUPPER AT BETHANY, AND THE TREASON OF JUDAS. 



Matth. xxvi. 1—16. 
And it came to pass, when Jesus 
had finished all these sayings, he 
said unto his disciples, Ye know 
that after two days is the feast of 
the passover, and the Son of man 
is betrayed to be crucified. 3. 
Then assembled together the chief 
priests, and the scribes, and the 
elders of the people, unto the palace 
of the high priest, who was called 
Caiaphas, 4. And consulted that 
they might take Jesus by subtilty, 
and kill him. 5. But they said, 
Not on the feast-day, lest there be 
an uproar among the people. 6. % 
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, 
in the house of Simon the leper, 

7. There came unto him a woman 
having an alabaster-box of very 
precious ointment, and poured it 
on his head, as he sat at meat. 

8. But when his disciples saw it, 
they had indignation, saying, to 
what purpose is this waste? 9. 
For this ointment might have been 
sold for much, and given to the 
poor. 

10. When Jesus understood it, 
he said unto them, Why trouble ye 
the woman ? for she hath wrought 



Maek xiv. 1—11. 
After two days was the feast of 
the passover, and of unleavened 
bread : and the chief priests and 
the scribes sought how they might 
take him by craft, and put him to 
death. 2. But they said, Not on- 
the feast-day, lest there be an up- 
roar of the people. 3. Tf And being 
in Bethany in the house of Simon 
the leper, as he sat at meat, there 
came a woman having an alabaster- 
box of ointment of spikenard very 
precious ; and she brake the box, 
and poured it on his head. 4. And 
there were some that had indigna- 
tion within themselves, and said, 
Why was this waste of the oint- 
ment made ? 5. For it might have 
been sold for more than three 
hundred pence, and have been 
given to the poor. And they mur- 
mured against her. 



6. And Jesus said, Let her alone ; 
why trouble ye her? she hath 
wrought a good work on me. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



335 



a good work upon me. 11. For ye 
have the poor always with you ; 
but me ye have not always. 12. 
For in that she hath poured this 
ointment on my body, she did it 
for my burial. 13. Verily I say 
unto you, Wheresoever this gospel 
shall be preached in the whole 
world, there shall also this, that 
this woman hath done, be told for 
a memorial of her. 

14. % Then one of the twelve, 
called Judas Iscariot, went unto 
the chief priests, 15. And said unto 
them, "What will ye give me, and 
I will deliver him unto you ? . And 
they covenanted with him for thirty 
pieces of silver. 16. And from that 
time he sought opportunity to be- 
tray him. 

Luke xxii. 1-6. 
Now the feast of unleavened 
bread drew nigh, which is called 
the Passover. 2. And the chief 
priests and scribes sought how they 
might kill him ; for they feared the 
people. 



7. For ye have the poor with you 
always, and whensoever ye will ye 
may do them good : but me ye 
have not always. 8. She hath 
done what she could : she is come 
aforehand to anoiDt my body to 
the burying. 9. Verily I say unto 
you, Wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached throughout the whole 
world, this also that she hath done 
shall be spoken of for a memorial 
of her. 

10. ^[ And Judas Iscariot, one of 
the twelve, went unto the chief 
priests, to betray him unto them. 
1 1 . And when they heard it, they 
were glad, and promised to give 
him money. And he sought how 
he might conveniently betray him. 



John xii. 1-11. 
Then Jesus six days before the 
passover came to Bethany, where 
Lazarus was which had been dead, 
whom he raised from the dead. 2. 
There they made him a supper ; 
and Martha served : but Lazarus 
was one of them that sat at the 
table with him. 3. Then took 
Mary a pound of ointment of spike- 
nard, very costly, and anointed 
the feet of Jesus, and wiped his 
feet with her hair : and the house 
was filled with the odour of the 
ointment. 4. Then saith one of his 
disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's 
son, which should betray him. 5. 
Why was not this ointment sold for 
three hundred pence, and given to 
the poor? 6. This he said, not 
that he cared for the poor; but 
because he was a thief, and had 
the bag, and bare what was put 
therein. 7. Then said Jesus, Let 
her alone : against the day of my 
burying hath she kept this. 8. For 



336 



THE FOUB WITNESSES. 



the poor always ye have with yon ; 
but me ye have not always. 9. 
Much people of the Jews therefore 
knew that he was there : and they 
came not for Jesus' sake only, but 
that they might see Lazarus also, 
whom he had raised from the 
dead. 10. J But the chief priests 
consulted that they might put La- 
zarus also to death; 11. Because 
that by reason of him many of the 
Jews went away, and believed on 
Jesus. 
3 . % Then entered Satan into Judas 
surnamed Iscariot, being of the 
number of the twelve. 4. And he 
went his way, and communed with 
the chief priests and captains, how 
he might betray him unto them. 
5. And they were glad, and cove- 
nanted to give him money. 6. 
And he promised, and sought op- 
portunity to betray him unto them 
in the absence of the multitude. 

Let us first observe some striking details in the dif- 
ferent narratives, and then mark the light that is thrown 
on the order and general aspect of the facts that they 
relate, by a reciprocal comparison. 

In St Matthew's Gospel (v. 1) the narrative commences 
with his ordinary mode of making a transition : And 
it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings, 
&c. We do not find here, either in St Mark or in St 
Luke, any words addressed by Jesus to his disciples, but 
only the essential fact mentioned : the feast of the Pass- 
over was nigh. St Mark (xiv.) adds to this, by way of 
explanation, the words, of unleavened bread, being the 
name by which the feast was best known among strangers. 

Anew we find abridged by St Mark and St Luke, the 
more circumstantial mention made in St Matthew of the 
assembling together of the chief priests and the scribes. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSIOX. 337 

The dread expressed by our Lord's enemies lest there be 
a tumult (Matth. v. 5, Mark v. 2), is not to be found at 
this point in our third Evangelist ; he recurs to it after- 
wards in passing, where he speaks of the betrayal of our 
Lord (v. 6). 

Thus far we hare the introduction, in which St 
John does not run parallel with the first three Evan- 
gelists ; it is only afterwards (xii. 1 0) that he evidently 
alludes to their mention of the council held by the high 
priests, adding further this new particular : they consulted 
that they might put Lazarus also to death. 

Here we lose altogether the thread of history as sup- 
plied by St Luke, who makes no mention of the supper at 
Bethany. What we miss in his Gospel we find more 
than replaced in the fourth, where the Apostle elucidates 
and extends, in the most marked manner, the narratives 
of St Matthew and St Mark. 

After the naming by the two synoptical Evangelists of 
the master of the house at whose table Jesus had sat and 
been anointed, we find at the first glance, on looking into 
St John (v. 1), two particular circumstances of some 
importance, in order to our obtaining a complete view of 
all that occurred : he gives us, first, to know the fact which 
led to the touching circumstances that marked this same 
supper : Lazarus was there also, whom Jesus had raised 
from the dead ; then, secondly, that the ever diligent and 
active Martha, his sister, served at the supper. Thus it is 
that St John, and he the first and alone of the four, puts 
that supper at Bethany in its clearest light, by enabling us 
to see the connexion in which it stands with the greatest 
miracle wrought by the Saviour — that is to say, the raising 
of Lazarus from the dead. 

Now follows the anointing of Jesus by the grateful and 

Y 



338 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

loving woman who, as is further to be observed, is not 
named by the synoptical Evangelists. We receive an 
agreeable surprise when, on looking into St John, we find 
in her the sister of the risen Lazarus, the Mary whom 
elsewhere we had come to know as seeking the one thing 
that is needful, and in the softness of her character, a 
meek and quiet spirit, sitting at Jesus' feet, and hearing 
his word. 1 

The sweet-smelling ointment spoken of in St Matthew 
(v. 7), in general terms, as very precious, is more fully 
described by St Mark (v. 2), as being of spikenard. 
Afterwards (v. 5), its price is mentioned : it might have 
been sold for more than three hundred pence, a reckon- 
ing adopted by St John from the second Gospel. In that 
Gospel too, what the woman did is expressed with ani- 
mation : she brake the alabaster-box and poured it forth- 
with on the head of her Lord. Here we find anew in St 
John, 2 the exact statement of number and weight (v. 3) : 
a pound. It is he who points out to us more specially 
the anointing of the feet of Jesus, which she afterwards 
wiped with her hair ; it is he who gives us to know that 
interesting detail, which, moreover, is not without its 
spiritual meaning, that the house was filled with the odour 
of the ointment. 

Thus do we perceive, in the transition from St 
Matthew to St Mark, and from the latter to St John, 
more and more light almost insensibly diffused on the 
bitter remark to which that anointing gave rise among 
the disciples. According to the first (v. 8), it appears as 
if the reprimand of Mary were attributed to all the dis- 
ciples. But St Mark at once limits and explains the 
general terms of his predecessor by that of some (v. 4) j 

1 Luke x. 39. 2 See p. 260. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S FASSION. 339 

and, finally, St John gives us more positive information by 
making it the exclamation of the traitor only (v. 4) : one 
of las disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, &c. Others, 
possibly, might have been led away for a moment by 
the hypocritical exclamation of Judas, and (as St Mark 
expresses it) had indignation within themselves against 
the woman ; but St John attributes the words that were 
pronounced, as well as the motive, exclusively to Judas. 
It is in like manner to St John that we are indebted for 
our first coming to know that it was avarice that on this 
occasion wrought in the traitor's heart ; he tells us 
(v. 12), This he said, not that he cared for the poor : but 
because he teas a thief and had the bag, and bare what 
was put therein. 

After this, the three Gospels entirely agree with regard 
to the declaration of Jesus concerning this woman's action. 
St Mark alone (v. 7) strengthens the sentence that relates 
to the poor by the marked amplification : and whenso- 
ever ye will, ye may do them good; and that relating to 
the woman, by those encouraging words : she hath done 
what she could. ^Xe do not find any recurrence in St John, 
of the expression of the two synoptical Evangelists (Matth. 
v. 10, and Mark v. 6) : good work ; this Apostle employs 
that expression exclusively in speaking of our Lord's 
miracles. 1 

Further, in St John we find fresh light thrown on the 
meaning of the expression anointing for the burial, used by 
St Matthew and St Mark. He explains it thus : Against 
the day of my burying hath she kept this (ointment). 

The prediction, of the accomplishment of which we are 
this day witnesses, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, and 
which foretells that the woman and her action would be 

1 John x. 32, 33. 



340 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

spoken of wlwrever the Gospel shall be preached, is not 
repeated by St John after being mentioned by the two 
synoptics ; he had already done homage to that act of 
love by giving the name of the woman. 

The details which follow, and are recorded only by 
him (y. 9-11) are important; as when he tells us that 
much people of the Jews came to Bethany, not for Jesus' 
sake only, but that they might see Lazarus ; how the chief 
priests consulted not only to put Jesus to death, but 
Lazarus also ; how, at the same time, many of the Jews 
believed on Jesus after that stupendous miracle. 

Here the fourth Gospel leaves us, but in return St 
Luke proves himself anew the historian by way of emi- 
nence, in furnishing details which are no less interesting. 
He opens the narrative of the conspiracy of the traitor 
with the council (v. 3), with a strong expression. Imme- 
diately after (v. 4), he alone makes mention, with his- 
torical exactness, of the chief priests and the captains. 1 
St Mark (v. 11), and St Luke after him, pointedly speak 
of the satisfaction that the proposal of Judas gave them. 
According to his usual custom, the latter, in speaking of 
the impious contract, employs the proper juridical terms 
(v. 5 and IV) ' they covenanted (Gr. awedevro), and he 

promised (Gr. e^cojiokoynae). 

It is St Matthew only that has recorded the amount of 
the price of blood (x. 1 5) : thirty pieces of silver ; this he 
has done in keeping with his prophetical point of view 3 
since he places them afterwards in connexion (ch. xxvin 
3-10) with the prophecy of Jeremiah with respect to 
that sum, the price for which the Lord ivas sold ; and 
since that whole part of the history of the passion (the 

1 Compare Luke xxii. 52. The captains were likewise priests, placed over 
the guards of the Temple* 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORDS PASSION. 341 

treason committed by one of the twelve, predicted long- 
before, and foreseen by Jesus himself), is a point of capital 
importance with this Evangelist. It suited him more 
than any of the other three (in conformity with the well- 
known character of his work), not to keep out of view, 
but to give prominence to all that redounded whether to 
the glory or the shame of the apostleship. 1 

Let us now mark further an apparent difference be- 
tween the narratives of St Matthew and St Mark on the 
one hand, and that of St John on the other, in so far as 
respects the determining of the time when the supper 
at Bethany took place. According to St Matthew (v. 1 
and 6), followed here too by St Mark (v. 1 and 3), the 
supper, and the anointing at Bethany, took place two 
days before the feast of the passover. St John (xii. 1) 
seems to speak positively of six days. The apparent 
difference disappears on our simply noticing, that in St 
John the second verse ought not to be considered as imme- 
diately following on verse first. On the contrary, the con- 
tents of verses 2-11 appear to us a parenthesis, in which 
our last Evangelist mentions, by way of anticipation, the 
supper at Bethany, which took place in reality only some 
days after the entrance into Jerusalem, that is to say 
(as we know already from the two first synoptical Gos- 
pels), two days before the passover. St John, too, neither 
adds any thing, nor makes any change on that date ; he 
merely gives us the details which we have just gone over. 
The words, on the next day (v. 12), ought then to be 
understood as referring to the day after the arrival of 
Jesus at Bethany, as mentioned at verse first. 

Now, by putting together our now concluded obser- 
vations on the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem, and 

1 See pp. 14, 15. 



342 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



the supper at Bethany, we arrive at the following results 
with respect to the chronological order of the incidents 
that are recorded in the four Gospels. 

1. The arrival of Jesus at Bethany six days before 
the passover, that is to say, on the first day of the week 
(according to St John, xii. 1). 

2. The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on the day 
following, that is to say, on Monday (according to the 
same Evangelist, xii. 12). 

3. First entrance into the Temple that same day 
(Mark xi. 11). 

4. The day following {Tuesday) the malediction of 
the fig-tree (Mark xi. 12). 

5. The cleansing of the Temple that same day (Mark 
xi. 15, &c). 

6. Supper at Bethany two days before the passover 
(according to Matth. xxvi. 2, and Mark xiv. 1). 

7. Covenanting of Judas with the council of the Jews. 



THE LAST SUPPER OF JESUS WITH HIS DISCIPLES. 



Matth. xxvi. 17. 

Now the first (day) of 
the(feast of )unleavened 
bread, the disciples 
came to Jesus, saying 
unto him, Where wilt 
thou that we prepare 
for thee to eat the 
passover ? 

18. And he said, 
go into the city to such 
a man, and say unto 
him, 



Mark xiv. 12. 

And the first day of 
unleavenedbread,when 
they killed the pass- 
over, his disciples said 
unto him, Where wilt 
thou that we go and 
prepare, that thou 
mayest eat the pass- 
over ? 

13. And he sendeth 
forth two of his dis- 
ciples, and saith unto 
them, Go ye into the 
city, and there shall 
meet you a man bear- 
ing a pitcher of water : 



Luke xxii. 7. 
Then came the day 
of unleavened bread, 
when the passover must 
be killed. 



8. And he sent Peter 
and John, saying, Go 
and prepare us the 
passover, that we may 
eat. 9. And they said 
unto him, Where wilt 
thou that we prepare ? 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



343 



follow him. 14. And 
wheresoever he shall 
go in, say ye to the 
goodman of the house, 



The Master saith, 
My time is at hand; 
I will keep the pass- 
over at thy house with 
my disciples. 



19. And the dis- 
ciples did as Jesus had 
appointed them ; and 
they made ready the 
passover. 



The Master saith, 
Where is the guest- 
chamber, where I shall 
eat the passover with 
my disciples? 15. And 
he will shew you a 
large upper room fur- 
nished and prepared : 
there make ready for us. 

16. And his dis- 
ciples went forth, and 
came into the city, and 
foimd as he had said 
unto them : and they 
made ready the pass- 
over. 



10. And he said unto 
them, Behold, when ye 
are entered into the 
city, there shall a man 
meet you, bearing a 
pitcher of water; fol- 
low him into the house 
where he entereth in. 

11. And ye shall say 
unto the goodman of 
the house, 

The Master saith 
unto thee, Where is the 
guest-chamber, where 
I shall eat the pass- 
over with my dis- 
ciples? 12. And he 
shall shew you a large 
upper room furnished : 
there make ready. 

13. And they went, 
and found as he had 
said unto them: and 
they made ready the 
passover. 



The harmony of the synoptical Evangelists, as respects 
the preparation for the passion, requires no elucidation. 
In this short introduction, nevertheless, all of them dis- 
play their several characters. St Matthew enters into no 
details. He gives the main outline in a few words, and 
then distinguishes himself solely by the properly Hebrew 
expression (v. 18), such a man (Gr. 6 helva, in the Hebrew 
'("); after that, (in the same 18th v.), by the very 
significative insertion, My time is at hand. St Mark 
and St Luke give a fuller explanation of the feast by this 
parenthesis : luhen they killed the lamb of the passover (St 
Mark, v. 12); and (St Luke, v. 7) ivhen the lamb of the 
passover must be hilled ; both wrote, in the first instance, 
for persons not Israelites by birth. 

While St Matthew speaks in general of the disciples 



344 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



(v. 17, 18), St Mark limits his designation to two from 
among them (v. 13) ; St Luke again (v. 8) names the two, 
Peter and John. What St Matthew and St Mark put at 
first into the mouths of the disciples, Where wilt thou that we 
prepare for thee to eat thepassover f &c., appears, from the 
more regular narrative of St Luke, to have been said only 
in reply to the Lord's command, Go (v. 8), to which the 
subsequent indication, by our Lord in his reply, of the 
apartment in the city, corresponds. 

With respect to that indication of the place, we again 
find St Matthew brief. By way of extension and eluci- 
dation, first in St Mark (v. 13), we have the detail of the 
man bearing a pitcher of water, and then in St Luke 
(v. 10), in nearly the same terms. 

The large upper room furnished and prepared, is also in- 
dicated first by St Mark ; after him also by St Luke (v. 12.) 



Matth. xxvi. 20-35. 
Now when the even was come, 
he sat down with the twelve. 
21. And as they did eat, he said, 



Mark xiv. 17-31. 
And in the evening he cometh 
with the twelve. 

18. And as they sat and did eat, 



Verily I say unto you, That one of Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, 



you shall betray me. 

22. And they were exceeding 
sorrowful, and began every one of rowful, and to say unto him one 



One of you which eateth with me 
shall betray me. 

19. And they began to be sor- 



them to say unto him, Lord, is it 
I ? 23. And he answered and said, 
He that dippeth his hand with me 
in the dish, the same shall betray 
me. 24. The Son of man goeth 
as it is written of him : but woe 
unto that man by whom the Son 
of man is betrayed! it had been 



by one, Is it I ? and another said, 
Is it I? 20. And he answered 
and said unto them, It is one of 
the twelve, that dippeth with me in 
the dish. 21. The Son of man in- 
deed goeth, as it is written of him : 
but woe to that man by whom the 
Son of man is betrayed ! good were 



good for that man if he had not it for that man if he had never 

been born. been born. 

25. Then Judas, which betrayed 
him, answered and said, Master, is it 
I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

26. And as they were eating, 22. And as they did eat, Jesus 
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, took bread, and blessed, and brake 
and brake it, and gave it to the it, and gave to them, and said, 
disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this Take, eat : this is my body. 23. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



345 



is my body. 27. And lie took the 
cup, and gave thanks, and gave it 
to them, saying, Drink ye all of it : 
28. For this is my blood, the (blood) 
of the new testament, which is shed 
for many for the remission of sins. 

29. But I say unto you, I will 
not drink henceforth of this fruit 
of the vine, until that day when 
I drink it new with you in my 
Father's kingdom. 

30. And when they had sung 
an hymn, they went out into the 
mount of Olives. 31. Then saith 
Jesus unto them, All ye shall be 
offended because of me this night : 
for it is written, I will smite the 
shepherd, and the sheep of the 
flock shall be scattered abroad. 

32. But after I am risen again, I 
will go before you into Galilee. 

33. Peter answered and said unto 
him, Though all men shall be 
offended because of thee, yet will I 
never be offended. 34. Jesus said 
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
That this night, before the cock 
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 
35. Peter said unto him, Though I 
should die with thee, yet will I not 
deny thee. Likewise also said all 
the disciples. 



And he took the cup, and when he 
had given thanks, he gave it to 
them : and they all drank of it. 
24-. And he said unto them, This is 
my blood (the blood) of the new 
testament, which is shed for many. 

25. Verily, I say unto you, I 
will drink no more of the fruit of 
the vine, until that day that I 
drink it new in the kingdom of 
God. 

26. And when they had sung an 
hymn, they went out into the mount 
of Olives. 27. And Jesus saith 
unto them, All ye shall be offended 
because of me this night : for it is 
written, I will smite the shepherd, 
and the sheep shall be scattered. 

28. But after that I am risen, I 
will go before you into Galilee. 

29. But Peter said unto him, Al- 
though all shall be offended, yet 
will not I. 30. And Jesus saith 
unto him, Verily I say unto thee, 
That this day, even in this night, 
before the cock crow twice, thou 
shalt deny me thrice. 31. But he 
spake the more vehemently (Gr. 

fxaWov i< nepiacrov): If I should 

die with thee, I will not deny thee 
in any wise. Likewise also said 
they all. 



Luke xxii. 14-39. 
And when the hour was come, 
he sat down, and the twelve apos- 
tles with him. 15. And he said 
unto them, With desire I have de- 
sired to eat this passover with you 
before I suffer : 1C. For I say unto 
you, I will not any more eat there- 
of, until it be fulfilled in the king- 



John xiii. 1-38. 
Now, before the feast of the pass- 
over, when Jesus knew that his 
hour was come that he should de- 
part out of this world unto the 
Father, having loved his own 
which were in the world, he loved 
them unto the end. 2. And sup- 
per being begun, 1 (the devil having 



1 Gr. rov Seinvov yevofxevov, which in our translation is wrongly rendered, 
supper being ended. It was in the nature of things, as well as according to the 
known custom of the Jews, that such washings did not follow, but precede the 
taking of food. Bengel has remarked on this passage : " Ttvonevov, aim fleret. 
Pedilavium sub initium coeme." Compare v. 4 and 12. 



346 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



dom of God. 17. And be took 
the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 
Take this, and divide it among 
yourselves : 18. For I say unto 
you, I will not drink of the fruit of 
the vine, until the kingdom of God 
shall come. 



now put into the heart of Judas 
Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray 
him,) 3. Jesus knowing that the 
Father had given all things into 
his hands, and that he was come 
from God, and went to God ; 4. 
He riseth from supper, and laid 
aside his garments ; and took a 
towel, and girded himself. 5. 
After that he poureth water into a 
bason, and began to wash the dis- 
ciples' feet, and to wipe them with 
the towel wherewith he was girded. 
6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter ; 
and Peter said unto him, Lord, 
dost thou wash my feet ? 7. Jesus 
answered and said unto him, What 
I do thou knowest not now; but 
thou shalt know hereafter. 8. 
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt 
never wash my feet. Jesus answered 
him, If I wash thee not, thou hast 
no part with me. 9. Simon Peter 
saith unto him, Lord, not my feet 
only, but also my hands and my 
head. 10. Jesus saith to him, He 
that is washed needeth not, save 
to wash his feet, but is clean every 
whit : and ye are clean, but not 
all. 11. For he knew who should 
betray him ; therefore said he, Ye 
are not all clean. 

12. So, after he had washed 
their feet, and had taken his gar- 
ments, and was set down again, he 
said unto them, Know ye what I 
have done to you? 13. Ye call 
me Master and Lord : and ye say 
well; for so I am. 14. If I then, 
your Lord and Master, have washed 
your feet, ye also ought to wash 
one another's feet. 15. For I have 
given you an example, that ye 
should do as I have done to you. 
16. Verily, verity, I say unto you, 
The servant is not greater than his 
lord ; neither he that is sent greater 
than he that sent him, 17. If ve 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



347 



19. And he took bread, and 
gave thanks, and brake it, and 
gave unto them, saying, This is my 
body which is given for you : this 
do in remembrance of me. 

20. Likewise also the cup after 
supper, Baying, This cup is the 
new testament iu my blood, which 
is shed for you. 21. But, behold, 
the hand of him that betrayeth me 
is with me on the table. 22. And 
truly the Son of man goeth, as it 
was determined : but woe unto that 
man by whom he is betrayed ! 23. 
And they began to inquire among 
themselves, which of them it was 
that should do this thing. 

24. And there was also a strife 
among them, which of them should be 
accounted the greatest. 2o. And he 
said unto them, The kings of the Gen- 
tiles exercise lordship over them ; 
and they that exercise authority 
upon them are called benefactors. 
26. But ye shall not be so : but he 
that is greatest among you, let him 
be as the younger ; and he that is 
chief, as he that doth serve. 27. 
For whether is greater, he that sit- 
teth at meat, or he that serveth? 
Is not he that sitteth at meat ? but 
I am among you as he that serveth. 
28. Ye are they that have con- 



know these things, happy are ye 
if ye do them. 18. I speak not of 
you all : I know whom I have 
chosen : but that the scripture 
may be fulfilled, He that eateth 
bread with me hath lifted up his 
heel against me. 19. Now I tell 
you before it come, that, when it is 
come to pass, ye may believe that 
I am (he). 20. Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, He that receiveth 
whomsoever I send, receiveth me ; 
and he that receiveth me, receiveth 
him that sent me. 

21. When Jesus had thus said, 
he was troubled in spirit, and tes- 
tified, and said, Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, That one of you shall 
betray me. 

22. Then the disciples looked 
one on another, doubting of whom 
he spake. 23. Now there was 
leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his 
disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24. 
Simon Peter therefore beckoned to 
him, that he should ask who it 
should be of whom he spake. 25. 
He then, lying on Jesus' breast, 
saith unto him, Lord, who is it ? 



26. Jesus answered, He it is to 
whom I shall give a sop, when I 
have dipped it. And when he had 
dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas 
Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27. 
And after the sop Satan entered 
into him. Then said Jesus unto 
him, That thou doest, do quickly. 
28. Now no man at the table knew 
for what intent he spake this unto 
him. 29. For some of them thought, 
because Judas had the bag, that 
Jesus had said unto him, Buy those 
things that we have need of against 
the feast ; or, that he should give 
something to the poor. 30. He 



348 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 






thmed with me in my temptations. 
29. And I appoint unto you a 
kingdom, as my Father hath ap- 
pointed unto me; 30. That ye 
may eat and drink at my table in 
my kingdom, and sit on thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 
81. And the Lord said, Simon, 
Simon, behold, Satan hath desired 
to have you, that he may sift you 
as wheat : 32. But I have prayed 
for thee, that thy faith fail not : 
and when thou art converted, 
strengthen thy brethren. 83. And 
he said unto him, Lord, I am ready 
to go with thee, both into prison, 
and to death. 34. And he said, I 
tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not 
crow this day, before that thou 
shalt thrice deny that thou knowest 
me. 35. And he said unto them, 
When I sent you without purse, 
and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye 
any thing? And they said, No- 
thing. 36. Then said he unto 
them, But now, he that hath a 
purse, let him take it, and likewise 
his scrip : and he that hath no 
sword, let him sell his garment, 
and buy one. 37. For I say unto 
you, That this that is written must 
yet be accomplished in me, And he 
was reckoned among the transgres- 
sors : for the things concerning me 
have an end. 38. And they said, 
Lord, behold, here are two swords. 
And he said unto them, It is 
enough. 89. And he came out, 
and went, as he was wont, to the 
mount of Olives ; and his disciples 
also followed him. 

The connexion and succession of the various things that 
were clone, and discourses and sayings that were uttered, 
all as they occurred at the last Paschal supper of the 
Lord with his disciples, could not be traced with any 



then, having received the sop, went 
immediately out ; and it was night. 
31. Therefore, when he was gone 
out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of 
man glorified, and God is glorified 
in him. 32. If God be glorified 
in him, God shall also glorify him 
in himself, and shall straightway 
glorify him. 33. Little children, 
yet a little while I am with you. 
Ye shall seek me : and as I said 
unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye 
cannot come ; so now I say to you. 
34. A new commandment I give 
unto you, That ye love one an- 
other; as I have loved you, that 
ye also love one another. 35. By 
this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one 
to another. 36. Simon Peter said 
unto him, Lord, whither goest 
thou? Jesus answered him, Whither 
I go, thou canst not follow me now ; 
but thou shalt follow me after- 
wards. 37. Peter said unto him, 
Lord, why cannot I follow thee 
now ? I will lay down my life for 
thy sake. 38. Jesus answered 
him, Wilt thou lay down thy life 
for my sake ? Yerily, verily, I say 
unto thee, The cock shall not crow, 
till thou hast denied me thrice. 



THE NAKKATIVES OF OUR LOKD's PASSION. 349 

clearness from our Evangelists when placed in parallel 
columns, were it not that the plan of St Luke supplies 
us with the clue that enables us to do so. Following 
him with our eye constantly directed to the succession of 
the main events, we find placed before us one consistent 
whole, which afterwards receives all needful completeness 
from the addition of new details by St John, as well as 
from the grand leading facts mentioned by St Matthew 
and St Mark. Consequently let us not leave out of sight, 
especially at this part of the Gospel history, the line traced 
by St Luke. 

I. All the three synoptical Gospels (Matth. v. 20, 
Mark v. 17 and 18, Luke v. 14) are quite at one in their 
statement of the precise time when our Lord first sat down 
with the twelve; while St John (v. 1), after determining 
that time with relation to the feast, directs our regards 
to higher particulars: our Lord's knowledge of all that 
was then about to happen — his leaving this world to go 
to the Father — his love for his own — his lovinsr them to 
the end. 

II. After this we find in St Luke, given in the most 
evident manner, the solemn opening of the feast with 
these words, preserved by him alone, pronounced imme- 
diately after the guests had seated themselves at the 
table (v. 15 and 16) : With desire I have desired to eat this 
passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will 
not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the king- 
dom of God. After this he takes up a cup and passes it 
round among the guests (17), adding a declaration to 
the like effect (v. 18). r £\\\s first cup is that with which 
the Jews to this very day bless the opening of the Sab- 
bath and of festivals (kidousch). It must be carefully 
distinguished from the cup after the supper, of which 



350 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

particular mention is made in the exact narrative of St 
Luke (v. 20) ; while St Matthew, and along with him St 
Mark, in conformity with their less developed manner of 
exhibiting things, make no positive distinction between 
these two cups, and on that account (Matth. 29, Mark 
25) make no mention of the words pronounced by our 
Lord on passing round the first cup, until after the insti- 
tution of the Lord's Supper. 

III. It is in St John alone that we find what imme- 
diately followed this solemn commencement of the repast. 
The supper having thus commenced (for this, as we have 
seen, ought to be the rendering in his Gospel of the words 
rod heiTrvov yevo/jievov), the Master, before breaking bread, 
rises from his place at the table, and performs that action, 
so sublime in its humility and its love, which we find 
described here in all its details. These details, as w r ell as 
the main fact itself (v. 1-19), were pre-eminently in their 
proper place in this fourth Gospel. We find in it that 
depth of feeling, that emblematic language, that sacred 
mysteriousness, which particularly strike us among the 
characteristics of the Apostle St John. 1 In accordance 
also with this, we find the expressive remark that Jesus, 
when he girded himself to wash his disciples' feet, knew 
that the Father had given all things into his hands, and 
that lie was come from God and went to God (v. 3). 
Here too, accordingly, it is in the full consciousness of his 
divine greatness that Jesus stoops to perform the humblest 
and most self-abasing human service. Immediately 
afterwards, the warmth and vivacity of Peter's character 
come strongly out in the few words that pass between 
him and his Master (v. 6-9). At the same time (v. 7), 
we have in a short but very significant sentence those 

1 Page 233, &c. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LOED's PASSIOX. 351 

words, which may be applied by the believer with so much 
comfort to himself in a great variety of circumstances : 
What I do thou hiowest not now; but thou shalt know 
hereafter; — further on in the proceedings (v. 19), we have 
the true and entire purification of the inner man power- 
fully pointed out to us under the external emblem of the 
washing of the feet. None of the three synoptical Gos- 
pels had previously mentioned this solemn and most sig- 
nificant action; but it serves in the most glorious manner 
to explain what St Luke records afterwards (v. 24-27) 
on the occasion of the dispute among the disciples about 
which should be accounted the greatest. The words, / am 
among you as he that serveth, in our third Evangelist (v. 
27), find a striking explanation in the action which was 
to be recorded for the first time at a subsequent period 
by St John, while in his Gospel the practical applica- 
tion of the divine example immediately follows (v. 
12-17). 

IV. St Matthew (v. 21), and St Mark (v. 18), make 
the supper commence immediately with this exclamation 
of Jesus ': Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me. 
In this it is manifest that they have quite reversed the 
historical order which is afterwards observed by St Luke, 
with whom this prediction does not occur until after the 
institution of the New Covenant. It is, accordingly, in con- 
sequence of that transposition of the historical order, that 
St Mark and St Matthew repeat (Matth. 21, 26), no less 
than twice, the words, As they did eat, while in St Luke 
all follows its simple and regular course. He makes the 
institution of the supper of the New Covenant follow 
immediately after the commencement of the Paschal sup- 
per : This is my body. Here, again, it is the Israelitic cus- 
tom which our Lord observes, while he at the same time 



352 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

sanctifies and elevates it as the seal of the covenant of a 
new economy. Therefore, also, it is, that St Luke is the 
only one who remarks that the institution of the cup, 
closely as it was connected with the broken bread, did 
not take place (always according to the manner of the 
Israelites, who concluded their repast with a cup of 
thanksgiving) till after the lapse of such an interval as 
the nature of things required (v. 20) : Likewise, also, the 
cup after supper, saying, This cup is the mew testament 
hi my blood, &c. 

We have already shewn the agreement between the insti- 
tution of the Holy Supper, as we find it recorded in St Luke's 
Gospel, and St Paul's apostolical explanation on that point. 1 
The difference, on the other hand, between the terms 
employed by the third and the first two Gospel writers 
is evident. St Matthew (v. 26) adds from recollection, 
as an Apostle, the words Take, eat ; in which he is followed 
by St Mark (v. 22). That most important injunction, 
delivered on our Lord's handing the cup to the disciples, 
Drink ye all of it, occurs in St Matthew alone (v. 27). 
In St Mark (v. 23) we find only the compliance with that 
injunction : and they all drank of it. That which St 
Luke and St Paul record directly and concisely : This cup 
is the new testament in my blood, St Matthew, (v. 28) 
and St Mark (v. 24), give with a sort of explanatory 
repetition : This is my blood (the blood) of the nevj tes- 
tament. After this, the only thing that St Luke has in 
common with his predecessors here, in writing the Gospel 
history, and not in common with St Paul (v. 12), is the 
insertion : which is shed for you (in St Matthew and in 
St Mark in an explanatory and general manner : for 
many). Finally, St Matthew further follows this up with 

1 See page 169* 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 353 

these important words as an apostolical explanation : for 
the remission of sins. It is only in St Luke and St Paul 
that we find anew that other very important expression : 
do this in remembrance of me (Gr. in order to call me 

to remembrance, eU rrjv efjurjv dvd\xvr)<jiv)} 

In St John the institution of the Holy Supper finds 
no record. He evidently assumes its being sufficiently 
known by means of the three other Evangelists, the epistle 
of St Paul to the Corinthians, and the Ions established 
usage of the Churches. Nevertheless, he has given us 
elsewhere in his Gospel, in a very detailed manner, the 
essential features of the ordinance in its simple and sub- 
lime emblematic signification. The whole of that dis- 
course delivered by Jesus, in which he declares that he 
himself is the bread of life (ch. vi. 48-53), and that whoso 
eateth his flesh and drinlceth his blood, hath eternal life 
(v. 54), is it not in oral words what the Lord's Supper 
represents to us, and gives to us, in visible action f 

Now follows anew, in the order restored by St Luke, the 
announcement from the Lord's own mouth of the impend- 
ing treason to be perpetrated by one of the twelve. All 
four Gospels are on this point remarkably full and varied, 
But let us first account for the transposition of this cir- 
cumstance in the narratives of the first two Evangelists. 
The reason for it must be sought in the peculiar cha* 
racter which we have already remarked in St Matthew, 
who, both in virtue of his apostolic character, and owing 
to his close adherence to Old Testament prophecies, 
attaches particular importance to that treason by one 
belonging to the very circle of the Apostles, and to the 
foretelling of it in the psalm of the Prophet. Here St 

1 'Avdfivrjo-is has the active meaning implied iii it, and is carefully to be dis- 
tinguished fivT)ix6o-vvoi>, which Ave find in Matth. ch. xxvi. 13. 

Z 



I',; 



354 TPIE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Mark closely follows his predecessor. St Luke is the first 
who ceases to adopt an arrangement flowing from St 
Matthew's individual point of view, and gives us that which 
is purely historical in its stead. 

In the details of this part of the narrative, St Mark 
(v. 18) gives an expressive extension of the words one of 
you, employed by St Matthew; making them, One of you 
which eateth with me, shall betray me. St Luke, in 
immediate connexion with the blessing of the cup, ex- 
presses the same thing in different terms (v. 21) : The hand 
of him that betray eth me is ivith me on the table. This he 
follows up (v. 15) with what occupies an anterior place in 
the Gospels of his two predecessors, And truly the Son 
of Man goeth as it tuas determined ; l in St Matthew 
(v. 24) and in St Mark (v. 21), as it is written of him, 
(presenting a further powerful testimony to the Divine 
certainty and infallible truth of Scripture). What St 
Matthew and St Mark afterwards intend by that fearful 
expression: It had been good for that man that he had 
not been born, St Luke expresses in more concise terms : 
Woe unto that man ! The horror of the disciples on our 
Lord's announcing that there was treason in the midst of 
them, is recorded in the liveliest manner by St Mark, by 
repeating the question in St Matthew (v. 22) : Is it If 
The latter distinguishes himself by expressly recording 
that question as put by Judas himself, and the answer 
also given to him by our Lord (v. 25). Here St Luke 
is very concise, and relates the matter in a summary 
manner (v. 23). 

Then, again, we find St John inserting entirely fresh 
details of deep interest, and highly characteristic. In his 
Gospel alone do we read of an interchange of signs and 

1 Gr. Kara r6 wpiviievov. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 355 

talk (v. 22-26) between St Peter and the beloved disciple ; 
between the latter and his Lord, who, in giving the sop 
to Judas, intimates confidentially to St John who^the 
traitor was. St Matthew (v. 23), and St Mark (v. 20), 
had given a more general expression to what was said by 
our Lord in these terms, He that dippeth with me in 
the dish. The prophecy, He that eateth bread toith me, 
hath lifted up his heel against me (xiii. 18), now becomes 
all the more salient in St John. After that there come 
some further details, equally important and altogether new 
(v. 27-35) : the significant words of the Lord to Judas ; 
the misapprehension of his meaning into which his dis- 
ciples so naturally fell ; the departure of the traitor, with 
the impressive remark, and it was night (v. 30) ; the 
Saviour's exclamation after his departure ; his recalling 
what he had once said to the Jews about his own going 
to the Father ; his exhortation to his disciples that they 
should love one another. 

St Luke, in the meanwhile, conducts us to another 
most interesting incident at our Lord's table (v. 24- 
30). The disciples, now as ever, forgetful hearers and 
witnesses of their Master's most recent instructions by 
word and deed, could not, even at this solemn scene; 
relinquish their old strife about precedency. This gives 
our Lord occasion to refer to his washing of the disciples' 
feet at the commencement of the meal ; a reference which 
St John (v. 12-17) records, as it were, in one breath 
with the fact itself of the foot-washing. But St Luke 
further follows this reprimand with what serves at the 
same time to cheer and encourage the Apostles (v. 28- 
30) : Ye are they who have continued with me in my 
temptations ■: and I appoint unto you a kingdom, &c. 

VII. At the table of the last supper Jesus not only 



356 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

predicts the treachery of the avaricious Judas, but also the 
deuial of him by the loyal St Peter. St Matthew, and 
along with him St Mark, hare anew placed this part out 
of the historical order, to which it is forthwith restored, as 
before, by St Luke and St John. This transposition in 
the first two Gospels naturally arises from the connexion 
of ideas which St Matthew involuntarily causes to proceed 
onwards from the cup of the Israelitic thanksgivings (v. 
29), to the no less Israelitic singing of a hymn at the 
close of the Paschal supper (v. 30). He then, as it were, 
retraces his steps, agreeably with the greater latitude he 
takes in his narrative, and goes back to an important 
detail — the prediction of the denial (v. 31-35). St 
Mark, who here, as elsewhere, is at no pains to re-esta- 
blish the historical order, follows his predecessor on this 
occasion almost step for step. Only he enriches his 
statement with the striking detail (v. 30), that the cock 
shall crow twice. 1 And by the energetic expression he 
employs : the more vehemently, he puts in strong relief the 
infatuation of St Peter, from whose mouth he must have 
had this detail, at that critical moment of his life. The 
detail that follows alike in St Matthew (v. 35), and in St 
Mark (v. 31), is further remarkable here : Likewise also 
said all the disciples. 

St Luke (v. 31-39) records the prediction at its true 
historical place, that is to say, before the departure to the 
mount of Olives ; and, consequently, while they were still 
at the Paschal supper. But he also gives the prediction 
itself with details, in which Jesus especially reveals him- 
self in his love, in his faithfulness, in his intercession 
(v. 31, 32): First, we have the words: Simon, Simon, 
reiterated ; and in this the seriousness of the warning is 

1 Compare afterwards, Mark xiv. G8-72 5 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 357 

mingled with the blessed assurance of the never-failing 
love of God. 1 After this we have the declaration of 
Jesus : I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; 
thus, we perceive, the ardent Peter still believed, and 
his fall was the result of weakness, not of unbelief in the 
sense of falling from the faith ; finally, we have the 
exhortation: Therefore, when thou art converted (pro- 
perly, shalt have returned — Gr. eTnarpi^as— from thy fall) 
strengthen thy brethren. 

VIII. Immediately after this, St Luke, and he alone, 
further gives us the Lord's powerful exhortation to enter 
on the spiritual conflict with the abnegation of all things 
(v. 35, 36) — the reminiscence of the prophecy of Isaiah : 
He was numbered ivitli the transgressors — and, in general, 
of the prophecies of the New Testament concerning the 
Christ (v. 37) ; finally (v. 38), the misconception formed by 
the disciples of our Lord's object, when he exhorted them 
to buy a sword. This last particular explains to us how 
it happened that shortly thereafter St Peter could attack 
with a sword the servant of the high priest in the 
garden. (Luke xxii. 49, 50.) 

IX. Finally, there follows upon this in the three syn- 
optical Evangelists, the departure from the Paschal feast 
to the mount of Olives, after what St Matthew (v. 30) 
and St Mark (v. 20) had previously mentioned of the 
singing of the Hattel, or hymn composed of several psalms, 
and still practised to this day among the Jews. 

St John dwells longer on the narrative of the Paschal 
supper. In accordance with the character of his whole 

1 The repetition of the name in the Lord's address always indicates a peculiar 
love to the person addressed, whether in the Old or in the New Testament : 
Abraham, Abraham! (Gen. xxii. 11) ; Moses, Moses! (Exodus iii. 4); Samuel, 
Samuel! (1 Samuel iii. 10); Martha, Martha! (Luke x. 41); Saul, Saul! 
(Acts of the Apostles, ix. 4). 



358 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

Gospel, here again he gives us in great fulness the dis- 
courses held by the Lord with his disciples. Much of 
importance that was spoken by these we find recorded 
here ; such as what was said by Thomas, by Philip, and 
by Judas not Iscariot (chap, xiv.) With a single word 
(xiv. 31) he shews us the Saviour rising from the table; 
and gives us thereafter (xv. xvi.) the discourses held on 
the way to the mount of Olives. Finally, at the close 
of these discourses we find the prayer addressed by Jesus 
to his Father (xvii.), to which we shall shortly return. 
The connexion (xviii. 1) seems to indicate that that 
prayer was uttered during some moments of repose before 
crossing the brook Cedron, The passing of that brook is, 
in some sort, the decisive point at luhich our Lord's pas- 
sion commences. 

Thus, then, while we distinguish instead of confounding 
the different lines followed by the four Evangelists, and 
their different objects, the succession of words and of 
actions at the last Paschal supper of the Lord becomes 
clear to us : 1. The moment of sitting down at the table 
(noted by the four Evangelists) ; 2. The opening with the 
blessing of the cup (by St Luke alone) ; 3. The washing of 
the feet of the Apostles (by St John alone) ; 4. The break- 
ing of the bread and the blessing of the cup, or that act 
of the Saviour's Divine authority which transferred the 
feast of the Jewish Passover for all the ages that were 
to come, into the Holy Supper of the New Testament (by 
all the synoptical Evangelists) ; 5. The prediction of 
treachery, the agitation of, the questioning by, the dis- 
ciples, with our Lord's replies which were the consequence 
thereof (by the four Evangelists) ; 6. The dispute among 
the Apostles about precedency, and the appeal made by 
Jesus to the example that he himself had given in the 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD 3 PASSION, 



359 



washing of their feet (by St Luke alone) ; 7. The dis- 
courses that followed between Jesus and the twelve (by 
St John); 8. The prediction of the denial of Jesus by 
St Peter (by all the Evangelists) ; 9. The announcement 
of the approaching spiritual conflict, and the accomplish- 
ment of the prophecies (by St Luke); 10. The singing 
of the hymn (by St Matthew and St Mark); 11. The 
discourse by the way; together with, 12. The Lord's 
intercessory prayer (by St John); 13. The passing over 
of the brook Ceclron (also by St John). 



THE AGONY IN GETHSEMANE. 



Matth. xxvi. 36-46. 

Then cometh Jesus with them 
unto a place called Gethsemane, 
and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye 
here, while I go and pray yon- 
der. 37. And he took with him 
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, 
and began to be sorrowful and 
very heavy. 38. Then saith he 
unto them, My soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death : tarry 
ye here, and watch with me. 

39. And he went a little farther, 
and fell on his face, and prayed, say- 
ing, my Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup pass from me : neverthe- 
less not as I will, but as thou wilt. 
40. And he cometh unto the dis- 
ciples, and findeth them asleep, and 
saith unto Peter, What ! could ye 
not watch with me one hour? 41. 
Watch and pray, that ye enter not 
into temptation : the spirit indeed 
is willing, but the flesh is weak. 
42. He went away again the second 
time, and prayed, saying, my 
Father, if this cup may not pass 
away from me, except I drink it, 
thy will be done. 43. And he 
came and found them asleep again : 



Maek xiv. 32-42. 
And they came to a place which 
was named Gethsemane : and he 
saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, 
while I shall pray. 33. And he 
taketh with him Peter, and James, 
and John, and began to be sore 
amazed, and to be very heavy ; 
34. And saith uuto them, My soul 
is exceeding sorrowful unto death : 
tarry ye here, and watch. 

35. And he went forward a lit- 
tle, and fell on the ground, and 
prayed that, if it were possible, the 
hour might pass from him. 36. 
And he said, Abba, Father, all 
things are possible unto thee ; take 
away this cup from me : neverthe- 
less not what I will, but what thou 
wilt. 37. And he cometh, and 
findeth them sleeping, and saith 
unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou ? 
couldest not thou watch one hour ? 

38. TFatch ye and pray, lest ye 
enter into temptation : the spirit 
truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 

39. And again he went away, and 
prayed, and spake the same words. 

40. And when he returned, he found 



360 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 






for their eyes were heavy. 44. 
And he left them, and went away 
again, and prayed the third time, 
saying the same words. 

45. Then cometh he to his disci- 
ples, and saith nuto them, Sleep on 
now, and take your rest : behold, 
the hour is at hand, and the Son 
of man is betrayed into the hands 
of sinners. 46. Rise, let us be 
going: behold, he is at hand that 
doth betray me. 

Luke xxii. 40-45. 

And when he was at the place, 
he said unto them, Pray that ye 
enter not into temptation. 41. 
And he was withdrawn from them 
about a stone's cast, and kneeled 
down, and prayed, 42. Saying, 
Father, if thou be willing, remove 
this cup from me : nevertheless, 
not my will, but thine, be done. 
43. And there appeared an angel 
unto him from heaven, strengthen- 
ing him. 44. And being in an 

agony (Gr. yevofxevos iv dyooviq), 

he prayed more earnestly (Gr. 
eKTeveo-repov): and his sweat was as 
it were great drops of blood falling 
down to the ground. 45. And 
when he rose up from prayer, and 
was come to his disciples, he found 
them sleeping for sorrow, 46. 
And said unto them, Why sleep 
ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter 
into temptation. 



them asleep again ; (for their eyes 
were heavy ;) neither wist they 
what to answer him. 

41. And he cometh the third 
time, and saith unto them, Sleep 
on now, and take your rest : it is 
enough, the hour is come ; behold, 
the Son of man is betrayed into 
the hands of sinners. 42. Rise up, 
let us go ; lo, he that betrayeth me 
is at hand. 

John xviii. 1-2. 

When Jesus had spoken these 
words, he went forth with his dis- 
ciples over the brook Cedron, where 
was a garden, into which he entered, 
and his disciples. 



2. And Judas also, which be- 
trayed him, knew the place; for 
Jesus oft-times resorted thither 
with his disciples. 



The synoptical Gospels alone record the anguish of 
soul endured by our Lord in Gethsemane. St Matthew 
(v. 36) and St Mark (y. 32) agree, with the exception of 
a slight modification in the style. St Luke is here in 



THE NARRATIVES OP OUR LORD S PASSION. 361 

general more concise ; at the very commencement (v. 40) 
lie gives a succinct summary of the words of his two pre- 
decessors. It is remarkable, however, that he makes 
mention, not so much of the Saviour's expressed intention 
of engaging in secret prayer, as, on the other hand, of 
that exhortation to the disciples which his predecessors 
have not recorded until further on in the course of the 
narrative (Mattli. v. 41 ; Mark v. 32): Pray that ye enter 
not into temptation. 

St Luke, moreover, describes the anguish of the 
Saviour's soul at a later point of time (v. 44). St 
Matthew and St Mark do it immediately (Matth. 37, 
38 ; Mark 33, 34), almost in the same terms; those of 
the latter again, according to custom, being more for- 
cible ; instead of, to be saddened (Xvireladat), as in his 
predecessor, he has it, to be sore amazed, properly, seized 
with terror (eicdafLpelo-Ocu) . 

Each of the three Evangelists expresses, after his own 
manner, how Jesus prostrated himself in prayer ; St 
Matthew has, according to oriental usage (v. 35), Fell ON 
his face and prayed; St Mark (v. 35), Fell on the ground; 
St Luke has simply, Knelt down. But he alone, with the 
exactness of an historian, makes mention of the Lord's 
being quite alone during his prayer, and the distance (a 
stone's cast) at which he departed from his disciples for 
that purpose. 

In relating our Lord's thrice-repeated prayer, St 
Matthew, and after him St Mark, enter most into detail. 
In accordance with a peculiarity which we have already 
remarked in the latter, 1 previous to giving the very words 
of the prayer (v. 36), he gives the gist of its purport, (v. 
35): He prayed that if it were jiossible the hour might 

1 See page 101, 



362 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

pass from him. And he said, &c. In the prayer itself 
he puts first the Aramaean Abba, 1 of which the exclama- 
tion, Father! is the translation (Afifia 6 iraTrip). In St 
Matthew (v. 39), the prayer is given more in the form of 
a wish, That this cup pass from me (irapekOeTw) ; in St 
Mark (v. 36) and St Luke (v. 42) we find it in the form of 
a direct address to the Father, Take away this cup from 
me ; if thou be willing, remove the cup from me. The 
exhortation to watchfulness is addressed to all the dis- 
ciples in all the three synoptical Evangelists, but in St 
Matthew (v. 40) more particularly to St Peter, — in St 
Mark (v. 37), with the introduction, too, of his name in 
that familiar and tender address of our Lord : Simon, 
sleepest thou? Gouldest thou not watch ivith me one 
hour f 

To the sleep of the disciples, as mentioned by St 
Matthew, St Mark again adds a touching detail : Neither 
wist they what to answer him. St Luke, the physician, 
explains this sleep more fully (v. 45) : He found them 
sleeping for sorrow. 2 

But the Evangelist, who unites the historian and phy- 
sician in his person, interests us most of all where he 
touches on two most striking and significant circumstances 
in the agony of Jesus on this occasion (v. 43), the angel 
that appeared to him ivhen ivrestling in prayer, and 
strengthened him, and that increase of strength only in- 
ducing a more violent agony, so that his sweat was as it 
ivere great drops of blood. 

In the words of Jesus to the disciples after this inter- 
nal preparatory struggle was over, Sleep on now and take 
your rest : behold, the hour is at hand (Matth. v. 45), 
the addition of the simple it is enough (Gr. dwexei) in St 

1 See page 89. 2 See page 147. 






THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 363 

Mark (v. 41) lias a peculiar force in it; as also the mere 
transposition of the words of St Matthew (v. 46), He is 
at hand that cloth betray me, in Mark (v. 42) He that 
betrayeth me is at hand. 1 

Let now us proceed to St John. He has given us only 
the moment of our Lord's entrance into Gethsemane 
(v. 1); anon (v. 2) he explains how Judas knew with so 
much certainty the place where the Master could be 
seized. But of the agony of our Lord's soul he says 
not a word. He must have supposed the details on 
that point sufficiently known by means of his three pre- 
decessors. Afterwards, however, we have evidently a re- 
miniscence of their narrative in his Gospel (xviii. 11), 
where the Saviour says, The cap which my Father hath 
given me, shall I not drink it ? 

One word more, retrospectively, on the intercessory 
prayer, as given in the seventeenth chapter of St John. 
How are we to account for the fact that there (that 
is, before the passing of the brook Cedron) the Saviour's 
offering up of himself as a sacrifice, is represented not 
only as a settled purpose, but even as to be viewed as a 
fully accomplished act, while in the synoptical Evange- 
lists, the Saviour wrestles even to blood in praying that 
the cup of suffering might be taken from him \ It is to 
be referred to one of St John's peculiarities — a peculiarity 
which he has in common with the prophets of the Old 
Testament — that of speaking of the future, as it has been 
predetermined in the counsel of God and in the Scripture, 
as something that has already happened. Such, precisely, 
is the spirit and the meaning of the prayer winch we find 
recorded and paraphrased by him, as offered up at the 

1 See page 99. 



364 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 






pause that took place before passing the brook Ceclron. 
In that prayer Jesus looks upon himself as having already 
accomplished all things, because from a divine certainty 
he knew that he teas about to accomplish all things. 
Hence those expressions : And now I am no more in the 
world (xviii. 11); — While I was with them in the world 
(v. 12); — I have finished the worh which thou gavest me 
to do (v. 4). Is it not as if here we were listening already 
to the great High Priest of our profession, in his abiding- 
character of intercessor for his people in heaven, after the 
accomplishment of his sacrifice on earth 1 Well, then, there 
is nowise any contradiction between this sublime point of 
view peculiar to the last apostolic and prophetical Evan- 
gelist, from which he shews us the Lord before his passion 
as already triumphing in the spirit, in virtue of his perfect 
knowledge of the future, and what the synoptic Gospels 
describe to us of the agony in Gethsemane. In the in- 
tercessory prayer recorded by St John, we have the Lord 
placed before us in his divine omniscience ; in the synop- 
tical Gospels we see his holy humanity displaying a legi- 
timate aversion to death as the wages of sin which he had 
not committed, — an aversion which soon gives place to 
the most perfect submission, on the part of the Lamb 
without spot and blemish, to the will of the Father and 
his own predetermined counsel to accept the expiatory 
passion. 

THE APPREHENSION OF JESUS. 



Matth. xxvi. 47—56. 

And while lie yet spake, lo, 
Judas, one of the twelve, came, 
and with him a great multitude 
with swords and staves, from the 
chief priests and elders of the 
people. 

48, Now he that betrayed him 



Mark xiv. 43. 

And immediately, while he yet 
spake, cometh Judas, one of the 
twelve, and with him a great mul- 
titude, with swords and staves, 
from the chief priests, and the 
scribes, and the elders. 

44. And he that betrayed him 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION 



365 



gave them a sign (o^/mov), saying", 
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same 
is he ; hold him fast. 



49. And forthwith he came to 
Jesus, and said, Hail, Master 
(Rabbi) ; and kissed him. 

50. And Jesns said unto him, 
Friend, wherefore art thou come? 
Then came they, and laid hands 
on Jesus, and took him. 

51. And, behold, one of them 
that were with Jesus stretched out 
his hand, and drew his sword, and 
struck a servant of the high priest, 
and smote off his ear. 

52. Then said Jesus unto him, 
Put up again thy sword into his 
place : for all they that take the 
sword shall perish with the sword. 

53. Thinkcst thou that I cannot 
now pray to my Father, and he 
shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of angels'? 54. 
But how then shall the scriptures 
be fulfilled, that thus it must be ? 

55. In that same hour said Jesus 
to the multitudes, Are ye come 
out, as against a thief, with swords 
and staves for to take me? I sat 
daily with you teaching in the tem- 
ple, and ye laid no hold on me. 
56. But all this was done, that the 
scriptures of the prophets might be 
fulfilled. Then all the disciples 
forsook him, and fled. 



had given them a token (owcnj/xoi/), 
saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, 
that same is he ; take him, and lead 
him away safely (a<r<j>a\a)s, well 
secured). 

45. And as soon as he was come, 
he goeth straightway to him, and 
saith, Master, Master (Rabbi.Rabbi); 
and kissed him. 



46. And they laid their hands 
on him, and took him. 

47. And one of them that stood 
by drew a sword, and smote a ser- 
vant of the high priest, and cut off 
his ear. 



48. And Jesus answered and 
said unto them, Are ye come out, 
as against a thief, with swords and 
with staves to take me ? 49.1 
was daily with you in the temple 
teaching, and ye took me not : but 
the scriptures must be fulfilled. 
50. And they all forsook him, and 
fled. 

51. And there followed him a 
certain young man, having a linen 
cloth cast about his naked body ; 
and the young men laid hold on 
him : 52. And he left the linen 



Luke xxii. 47-52. 
And while he yet spake, behold 
a multitude, and he that was called 



John xviii. 3-12. 
Judas, then, having received a 
band of men and officers from the 



366 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



Judas, one of the twelve, went 
before them, and drew near unto 
Jesus to kiss him. 

48. But Jesus said unto him, 
Judas, betrayest thou the Son of 
man with a kiss ? 



49. When they which were about 
him saw what would follow, they 
said unto him, Lord, shall we smite 
with the sword? 50. And one of 
them smote a servant of the high 
priest, and cut off his right ear. 

51. And Jesus answered and 
said, Suffer ye thus far. And he 
touched his ear, and healed him* 



chief priests and Pharisees, cometh 
thither with lanterns and torches 
and weapons. 



4. Jesus therefore, knowing all 
things that should come upon him, 
went forth, and said unto them, 
Whom seek ye ? 5. They answered 
him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus 
saith unto them, I am he. And 
Judas also, which betrayed him, 
stood with them. 6. As soon 
then as he had said unto them, 
I am he, they went backward, and 
fell to the ground. 7. Then asked 
he them again, Whom seek ye? 
And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 
8. Jesus answered, I have told you 
that I am he : If therefore ye seek 
me, let these go their way : 9. 
That the saying might be fulfilled, 
which he spake, Of them which 
thou gavest me have I lost none. 

10. Then Simon Peter having a 
sword, drew it, and smote the 
high priest's servant, and cut off 
his right ear. The servant's name 
was Malchus. 

11. Then said Jesus unto Peter, 
Put up thy sword into the sheath : 
The cup which my Father hath 
given me, shall I not drink it ? 

12. Then the band and the cap- 
tain, and officers of the Jews, took 



52. Then Jesus said unto the 
Chief priests j and captains of the 
temple, and the elders, which were 
come to him, Be ye come out, as 
against a thief, with swords and 
staves? 53. When I was daily 
with you in the temple, ye stretched 
forth no hands against me: but 
this is your hour, and the power of 
darkness. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 367 

Throughout the whole of this narrative, St Matthew 
again lays the foundation on which the Evangelists that 
follow proceed to build. It is he alone who commences 
here (v. 47) with that lol so natural to an eyewitness, 
and of such frequent recurrence in the narratives of the 
Bible. In like manner, he alone records those words 
which might so well have caused Judas to pause in his 
horrid purpose : Friend, tvherefore art thou- come? 
(p. 50) ; but evidently without observing the order of the 
succession of facts, since they were certainly uttered not 
after the traitor's kiss, but upon his approach. St Luke, 
on the other hand, has preserved for us (v. 48) those still 
more severe words pronounced by Jesus after the kiss : 
Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss f It is 
St Matthew alone who lias recorded, or transferred to 
this particular moment, the words which we read here, 
entirely in the spirit of the Old Testament and of the 
Sermon on the Mount (v. 52), For all they that take the 
sword shall perish with the sword. — The twelve legions of 
angels, in the same Evangelist (v. 53), evidently bear 
anew the Israelitic character. — The fulfilling of the Scrip- 
tures is introduced with a sort of prolixity here (v. 54), and 
afterwards (v. 56), seeing that we find it but once in St 
Mark (v. 49), while St Luke and St John omit the direct 
mention of it. Here, anew, we find in St Mark his 
characteristic additions and accentuations. Among the 
enemies of Jesus he expressly names the Scribes. We 
not only recognise the language of the soldier in the use 
of the word, watchword {avaa^^ov), instead of the more 
ordinary word, sign {a^ixelov), employed by St Matthew; 1 
but also in his periphrasis of the traitor's perfidious ex- 
pression : Take him and lead him away safely. There 
is a terrible truth afterwards in that repetition of the word 

1 Page 112. 






368 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Master, with which Judas addresses our Lord (v. 45) : 
Rabbi, Rabbi ! Here, again, St Mark has his well-known 
and characteristic straightway (evdecos). But he very 
particularly distinguishes himself at this point (v. 51, 52), 
by the introduction of that striking incident of the young 
man who with difficulty escaped from the hands of the 
soldiers. Various conjectures have been started who this 
young man was, and about the cause of his being there. 
That he was one of the disciples has, at all events, more 
probability than that the person whom St Mark meant to 
designate was himself. The question further does not 
come within our plan at this place. But here, again, St 
Mark's characteristic peculiarity lies in the graphic power 
with which he places the whole scene before us, and the 
striking idea which that scene suggests to us of the con- 
dition to which the friends of Jesus were reduced at that 
moment. There is something particularly striking in that 
flight of the young man in a state of nakedness. Here, 
really, the disciple of the Lord escaped scarcely (that is, 
with difficulty), as St Peter elsewhere expresses it, where 
he speaks of the salvation of the righteous (1 Peter iv. 
18). 

Again, we find in St Luke what is evidently the his- 
torical sequence of events. The seizure of Jesus, men- 
tioned by the first two Evangelists before the wounding of 
the servant, occurs (as was to be expected from the nature 
of the thing) after that incident in St Luke's narrative 
(v. 54). He alone has recorded the question put by the 
disciple (v. 54), Lord, shall tve smite with the sword f 
whereupon (quite according to the nature of human pas- 
sion), he proceeds to strike without waiting for the reply. 
Then it is St Luke who is the first to intimate that it was 
the right ear that was cut off by the inconsiderate dis- 
ciple (v. 50). Finally, that exclamation, but this is your 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 369 

hour and the power of darkness we find only in St Luke, 
in connexion, we believe, with the history of the tempta- 
tion of our Lord in the wilderness, where it closes with 
the remark (iv. 13), that the devil departed from Jesus for 
a season. Now, in Gethsemane it was again his hour. 

St John again carries us further back, and conducts 
us into details of yet deeper interest. First of all, the 
seizure of Jesus is preceded in his Gospel by a dread 
revelation of his greatness and his majesty (v. 3-9), 
which puts in strong relief the grand fact, that the self- 
sacrifice of the Saviour in his passion was not only 
voluntary, but also vicarious. To that last of the Gos- 
pels it was reserved to inform us how, upon Jesus pro- 
nouncing these simple words, / am he, the band of sol- 
diers that came to seize him went backward, and fell to 
the ground ; and how it was on our Lord's pronouncing 
these words : If therefore ye seek me, let these go their 
tcay, that he surrendered himself, but upon a condition, 
the emblematic meaning of which is elucidated by the 
Evangelist's remark (v. 9), That the saying might be 
fulfilled which he spake: Of them which thou gavest me 
have I lost none (chap. xvii. 12). 

AVith respect to the place given to this insertion by St 
John, it is evident that what he mentions (v. 4-9) hap- 
pened immediately after the kiss, by which Judas pointed 
out his Master to the band. St John's remark (v. 5, 6) : 
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them, 
in connexion with that particular, is of great weight, 
seeing that it shews that Judas placed himself manifestly 
after the kiss among the Saviour's enemies, thus excluding 
himself from the number of those ivho had been given 
unto Jesus, that he might lose none of them (chap, 
xvii. 12). 

2 A 



370 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 









Assuming, as lie ordinarily does, all to be known 
that is recorded by the synoptical Evangelists with re- 
spect to the perfidious kiss, St John gives us, on the other 
hand, the details which we have indicated concerning the 
person of the Saviour himself, and afterwards re-connects 
his narrative with that of the synoptical Gospels (v. 10). 
It is there that he is the first to inform us of the name 
of the impatient disciple who made such an imprudent 
use of the sword : — it was none other than Peter. He 
at the same time reports for us, with that minute atten- 
tion to names which we have already remarked in St 
John, that the servant of the high priest, whose ear was 
cut oif, was called Malchus. Whereas, in fine, the synop- 
tical Evangelists speak of Jesus as being only laid hold of 
and taken aivay, St John alone here remarks that they 
also bound that patient Lamb of God. To this particular 
he afterwards returns in a remarkable connexion with 
other important details. 

JESUS BEFORE THE HIGH PRIEST AND THE JEWISH COUNCIL. 



Matth. xxvi. 57-75. 
And they that had laid hold on 
Jesus led him away to Caiaplias 
the high priest, where the scribes 
and the elders were assembled. 
58. But Peter followed him afar 
off unto the high priest's palace, 
and went in, and sat with the ser- 
vants, to see the end. 

59. Now the chief priests, and 
ciders, and all the council, sought 
false witness against Jesus, to put 
him to death; 60. But found none : 
yea, though many false witnesses 
came, yet found they none. At 
the last came two false witnesses, 

61. And said, This fellow said, I 
am able to destroy the temple of 
God, and to build it in three days. 

62. And the high priest arose, and 



Mark, xiv. 53-72. 

And they led Jesus away to the 
high priest : and with him were 
assembled all the chief priests, and 
the elders, and the scribes. 54. 
And Peter followed him afar off, 
even into the palace of the high 
priest ; and he sat with the ser- 
vants, and warmed himself at the 
fire. 

55. And the chief priests and 
all the council sought for witness 
against Jesus to put him to death • 
and found none : 56. For many 
bare false witness against him ; but 
their witness agreed not together. 
57. And there arose certain, and 
bare false witness against him, say- 
ing, 58. We heard him say, I will 
destroy this temple that is made 
with hands, and within three days 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



371 



said unto him, Answerest thou no- 
tliiug ? what is it which these wit- 
ness against thee? 63. But Jesus 
held his peace. And the high 
priest answered and said unto him, 
I adjure thee by the living God, 
that thou tell us whether thou be 
the Christ, the Son of God. 64. 
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast 
said : nevertheless I say unto you, 
Hereafter shall ye see the Son of 
man sitting on the right hand of 
power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven. 65. Then the high 
priest rent his clothes (1/j.aTia), 
saying, He hath spoken blasphemy ; 
what further need have we of wit- 
nesses ? behold, now ye have heard 
his blasphemy. 66. What think 
ye? They answered and said, He 
is guilty of death. 67. Then did 
they spit in his face, and buffeted 
him ; and others smote him with 
the palms of their hands, 68. Say- 
ing. Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, 
"Who is he that smote thee? 69. 
Now Peter sat without in the pa- 
lace : and a damsel came unto him, 
saying, Thou also wast with Jesus 
of Galilee. 70. But he denied be- 
fore them all, saying, I know not 
what thou sayest. 71. And when 
he was gone out into the porch, 
another maid saw him, and said 
unto them that were there, This 
fellow was also with Jesus of Na- 
zareth. 72. And again he denied 
with an oath, I do not know the 
man. 73. And after a while came 
unto him they that stood by, and 
said to Peter, Surely thou also art 
one one of them ; for thy speech 
bewray eth thee. 74. Then began 
he to curse and to swear, saying, 
I know not the man. And imme- 
diately the cock crew. 75. And 
Peter remembered the word of Je- 



I will build another made without 
hands. 59. But neither so did 
their witness agree together. 60. 
And the high priest stood up in 
the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, 
Answerest thou nothing? what is 
it which these witness against 
thee? 61. But he held his peace, 
and answered nothing. Again 
the high priest asked him, and 
said unto him, Art thou the Christ, 
the Son of the Blessed? 62. 
And Jesus said, I am : and ye 
shall see the Son of man sitting 
on the right hand of power, and 
coming in (Gr. pera) the clouds 
of heaven. 63. Then the high priest 
rent his clothes (xtreoi/a?), and saith, 
What need we any further wit- 
nesses ? 64. Ye have heard the 
blasphemy : what think ye ? And 
thejr all condemned him to be guilty 
of death. 6o. And some began to 
spit on him, and to cover his face, 
and to buffet him, and to say unto 
him, Prophesy : and the servants 
(vTvqperai) did strike him with the 
palms of their hands. 6Q. And as 
Peter was beneath in the palace, 
their cometh one of the maids of 
the high priest : 67. And when she 
saw Peter warming himself, she 
looked upon him, and said, And 
thou also wast with Jesus of Naza- 
reth. 68. But he denied, saying, 
I know not, neither understand I 
what thou sayest. And he went 
out into the porch (Gr. npoavXiov) • 
and the cock crew. 69. And a 
maid saw him again, and began to 
say to them that stood by, This is 
one of them. 70. And he denied 
it again. And a little after, they 
that stood by said again to Peter, 
Surely thou art one of them : for 
thou art a Galilean, and thy speech 
agreeth thereto. 71. But he began 



372 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



sus ; which said unto him, Before 
the cock crow, thou shalt deny me 
thrice. And he went out, and 
wept bitterly. 



Luke xxii. 54-71. 
Then took they him, and led 
him, and brought him into the high 
priest's house. And Peter followed 
afar off. 55. And when they had 
kindled a fire in the midst of the 
hall, and were set down together, 
Peter sat down among them. 



56. But a certain maid beheld 
him. as he sat by the fire, and ear- 
nestly looked upon him, and said, 
This man was also with him. 57. 
And he denied him, saying, Wo- 
man, I know him not. 58. And, 
after a little while, another saw 
him, and said, Thou art also of 
them. And Peter said, Man, I 
am not. 59. And about the 
space of one hour after, another 
confidently affirmed, saying, Of a 
truth this fellow also was with 
him ; for he is a Galilean. 60. 



to curse and to swear, saying, I 
know not this man of whom ye 
speak. 72. And the second time 
the cock crew. And Peter called 
to mind the word that Jesus said 
unto him, Before the cock crow 
twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 
And when he thought thereon, 1 he 
wept. 

JoHNXviii. 13-27. 

And led him away to Annas 
first ; (for he was father -in-law to 
Caiaphas, which was the high priest 
that same year.) 14. Now Caia- 
phas was he which gave counsel to 
the Jews, that it was expedient 
that one man should die for the 
people. 15. And Simon Peter fol- 
lowed Jesus, and so did another 
disciple. That disciple Avas known 
unto the high priest, and went in 
with Jesus into the palace of the 
high priest. 16. But Peter stood 
at the door without. Then went 
out that other disciple, which was 
known unto the high priest, and 
spake unto her that kept the door, 
and brought in Peter. 

17. Then saith the damsel that 
kept the door unto Peter, Art not 
thou also one of this man's disci- 
ples ? He saith, I am not. 18. And 
the servants and officers stoodthere, 
who had made a fire of coals ; (for 
it was cold :) and they warmed 
themselves : and Peter stood with 
them, and warmed himself. 19. 
The high priest then asked Jesus of 
his disciples, and of his doctrine. 
20. Jesus answered him, I spake 
openly to the world ; I ever taught 
in the synagogue, and in the temple, 



1 Or, having returned to himself ; Gr. e7n/3aXob2/, in the English translation : 
when lie thought thereon ; less accurately in the Dutch : zich van daar ma- 
kende. ^irifiaWeiv (to wit, top vovv), is the Latin animum advertere. Com- 
pare Wetstein on this passage. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION 



373 



And Peter said, Mail, I know not 
what thon sayest. And imme- 
diately, while he yet spake, the 
cock crew. 61. And the Lord 
turned, and looked upon Peter : 
and Peter remembered the word of 
the Lord, how he had said unto 
him, Before the cock crow, thou 
shalt deny me thrice. 62. And 
Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 
63. And the men that held Jesus 
mocked him, and smote him. 64. 
And when they had blindfolded 
him, they struck him on the face, 
and asked him, saying. Prophesy, 
who is it that smote thee ? 65. And 
many other things blasphemously 
spake they against him. 66. And 
as soon as it was day, the elders 
of the people, and the chief priests, 
and the scribes, came together, and 
led him into their council, 

67. Saying, Art thou the Christ? 
tell us. And he said unto them, If I 
tell you, ye will not believe : 68. 
And if I also ask you, ye will not 
answer me, nor let me go. 69. 
Hereafter shall the Son of man sit 
on the right hand of the power of 
God. 70. Then said they all, Art 
thou then the Son of God ? And he 
said unto them, Ye say that I am. 
7 1 . And they said, What need we any 
further witness ? for we ourselves 
have heard of his own mouth. 



whither the Jews always resort ; 
and in secret have I said nothing. 
2 1 . "Why askest thou me ? ask 
them which heard me, what I have 
said unto them : behold, they know 
what I said. 22. And when he 
had thus spoken, one of the officers 
which stood by struck Jesus with 
the palm of his hand, saying, An- 
swerest thou the high priest so ? 
23. Jesus answered him, If I have 
spoken evil, bear witness of the 
evil ; but if well, why smitest thou 
me? 24. (Now Annas had sent 
him bound unto Caiaphas the high 
priest.) 



25. And Simon Peter stood and 
warmed himself, [compare verse 
18.] They said therefore unto him, 
Art not thou also one of his disci- 
ples ? He denied it, and said, I am 
not. 26. One of the servants of 
the high priest (being his kinsman 
whose ear Peter cut off) saith, Did 
not I see thee in the garden with 
him ? 27. Peter then denied again ; 
and immediately the cock creAv. 



Here we have but to follow the thread supplied by St 
Luke, and the historical sequence of events again becomes 
easily discernible amid the numerous details that recipro- 
cally cross one another. The facts recorded by that Evan- 
gelist are then again elucidated and completed by the 
highly important details supplied by St John. But nothing 
can be more simple than the order of events in St Luke's 
narrative. We behold there the Saviour led away to the 



3*74: THE FOUR WITNESSES, 

high priest, denied by Peter, maltreated by the officers, 
and on confessing that he was the Christ, the Son of God, 
declared by the council to be guilty of blasphemy. 

All three synoptical Gospels mention how Jesus was 
led away from Gethsemane to Caiaphas, the high priest, 
and placed before the council which had met at his house. 
St John makes us acquainted with a new particular : to 
wit, that Jesus was first taken to Annas, the father-in- 
law of Caiaphas (v. 13), and in so doing, recalls the 
involuntary prediction of that chief of the priesthood, as 
previously recorded in this same Gospel (xi. 51). Anon 
(v. 24), he calls attention to the fact, that Jesus was sent 
bound by Annas to the house of Caiaphas. 

Immediately thereafter, St Luke (v. 54-62) gives us 
a continuous narrative of St Peter s triple denial of his 
Master ; St Matthew, St Mark, and St John, place the 
interrogatories put to our Lord before the high priest and 
the Jewish council, as well as his maltreatment by the 
servants, between the Apostle's seating himself in the 
lower hall, and his three denials of Jesus. 

Throughout the whole of this combined narrative, we 
again find that the two first Gospels correspond with each 
other. St Mark, with the reservation of his characteristic 
abridgments and additions, keeps to the order adopted 
by St Matthew, an order which we ere long discover, from 
St Luke and St John, to have been by no means the 
historical one, but suggested by the personal impression 
made on our first Evangelist. 

As respects the manner in which the particular inci- 
dents in the narrative are described ; first of all, St Mat- 
thew here exhibits his most characteristic peculiarities. 
Observe his remarking (v. 58), that St Peter unshed to 



THE NARRATIVES OP OUR LORD'S PASSION. 375 

see hoiu matters would end in the hall of the high priest ; 
anon, in his account of the meeting of the Jewish council 
(y. 61), we have a precise statement of the number of the 
false witnesses : two, with an evident reference to the 
number required by the law of Moses (Deut. xvii. 6) : At 
the month of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he 
that is worth]/ of death be put to death. 1 After this, the 
truly Jewish adjuration of the high priest at the inter- 
rogatory (y. 63): the exclamation (v. 65) : he hath spoken 
blasphemy ; the express insertion of the title of Christ 
(v. 68), that it might be perceived that the mockery cast 
upon our Lord had for its object his royal as well as his 
prophetical dignity ; finally, an oath uttered by St Peter 
at his very first denial of the Saviour (v. 72). 

St Mark is here distinguished in the following manner. 
He brings the scene of St Peter's denial more vividly 
before us, by expressly stating, that St Peter followed 
into the palace where St Matthew (v. 58) has said more 
generally unto. He shews us (v. 54) the Apostle not 
merely sitting with the servants, but also warming himself 
at the fire, a detail to which St John recurs (v. 18, 25), 
while St Luke mentions it less directly (v. 55). He 
alone, when our Lord stands before the council, remarks, 
and that twice (v. 56 and 59), that the testimony of the 
witnesses did not agree. He records, at once fully and 
impressively, the false testimony itself: We heard him 
say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, 
and within three days I will build another, made without 
hands. The circumstance of the high priest's standing 
up, mentioned by St Matthew (v. 62), he brings out more 

1 Meanwhile, it is remarkable that the minimum only of the requisite number 
could be brought to give evidence ; and even then, as we are told by St Mark, 
their witness did not agree together. 



376 THE FOUR WITNESSES. % 

fully by adding (v. 60) in the midst. Our Lord's silence 
lie emphatizes by a repetition of the statement : But he 
held his peace and answered nothing (v. 61). Instead 
of the Son of God he has (v. 61) the literal expression 
employed by the Jews : the Son of the Blessed. In 
the words of Jesus, taken from the prophet Daniel (v. 24), 
he restores the much livelier expression actually used by 
the prophet : with (Gr. fiera) the clouds of heaven, where 
St Matthew has merely given the sense : on (eVt) the clouds 
of heaven. It is St Mark who first tells us (v. 65*), and 
after him St Luke (v. 64), that some of the mockers of 
Jesus covered his face, in contempt of his prophetic dignity. 
It is he, further, who is the first to remark (v. 65), that 
it was the servants who struck him with the palms of their 
hands. St John explains more fully and more exactly 
how this took place during the interrogatory before the 
high priest (v. 22). 

It is St Mark who, passing with his predecessor from 
this part of the narrative to that which follows the denial, 
anew describes the place with most precision (v. 66). St 
Peter was beneath 1 in the palace. It was there that 
he was seen by one of the maids, whom St Matthew desig- 
nates simply by that word, but whom St Mark distin- 
guishes as one of the maids of the high priest (v. 66), and 
whom St John makes known to us as the damsel that kept 
the door. St Mark (v. 67), and St Luke (v. 56), depict 
the look cast upon the Apostle by this maid, and which 
instantly confounded him. The expression of the first 
denial is again redoubled here (v. 68) : I know not, neither 
understand I what thou sayest. St Matthew (v. 70), 
records the latter of these expressions only, and St Luke 
the former (v. 57). But it is chiefly with respect to what 

1 Gr. kuto, instead of the e£o> (without) of St Matthew (v. G9), 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LOBD's PASSION. 377 

took place after that first denial, that St Mark's narra- 
tive (v. 68) is of the utmost importance : namely, the 
first cock-crowing, after the Apostle had gone down into 
the court. 1 It is thus that we learn exclusively from St 
Mark, that Simon Peter might have even then withdrawn 
himself from the danger of a second and third denial — but 
ere long we find him returning into the hall below (v. 69), 
St Mark (v. 69) has further, at this place, what mani- 
festly elucidates, and more precisely determines what had 
previously been stated by St Matthew ; the maid desig- 
nated by the latter (v. 71) as another, appears from the 
former to have been the same that confounded Peter on 
the first occasion. (St Matthew, in his more general 
and less developed narrative, designates her as another, 
by a very natural and very characteristic confusion of the 
persons who, in the bustle of the moment, took part in 
the attack against Peter. It is another example of the 
same principle to which the characteristic plural of the first 
Evangelist may be traced). St Luke also (v. 58) speaks 
of another of those who were present, and not of another 
maid, Thus, all may be resolved in the simplest manner, by 
a good or true combination of the three synoptical Gospels. 
To return to that of St Mark, we there find the suspicion 
created by St Peter's provincial accent more fully brought 
out (v. 70) : Thou art a Galilean, and thy speech agreeth 
thereto. Anon, we have (v. 72) a second cock-crowing 
mentioned. On the other hand, nothing is said of the 
bitterness of Peter's repentance by his bosom-friend St 

1 The Greek word npoavXiou signifies the fore-court — the vestibule; that is 
to say, the large space before the gate (to e/z7rpo<x#ez/ ttj? auXqs), according to 
Suidas. In this narrative we must carefully distinguish, 1st, The fore -cou rt ; 
2d, The fore, or lower hall, where the servants sat round the fire ; and, 3d, The 
upper hall, or the highest part of the hall, where the high priest subjected our 
Lord to & preliminary interrogatory. (John, v. 19-24.) 



378 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Mark. St Matthew and St Luke alone have that striking 
expression : he ivept bitterly ; — St Mark has simply : 
he wept. The important word eirifBaXwv (having be- 
thought himself — having returned to himself), which, 
again, we read in St Mark alone, is afterwards explained 
and developed to us in a striking manner by St Luke 
(v. 61). 

St Luke, likewise, has several characteristic details in 
this part of our Lord's passion. He shews us Peter's 
highly dangerous position, in the midst of the hall, in the 
midst of the servants around the fire, warming himself 
(v. 55). He notes the time that elapsed betwixt the dif- 
ferent denials : after a little while (v. 58), and (v. 59) about 
the space of one hour after, (that is to say, counting from 
the^r^, not from the second denial). He is particularly 
affecting and striking in the account which he gives of the 
repentance of the Apostle, and describes it in immediate 
connexion with the looh of Jesus, who, turning for a 
moment amid the sufferings he was enduring himself, to 
the fallen disciple, recalls to his remembrance what he had 
foretold of him, and touches his heart unto repentance. 
We evidently find a recurrence here of that mercy, that 
compassion, and at the same time that healing power in 
the Saviour, which St Luke puts so prominently forward 
in his Gospel. After this there follow (simultaneously 
with what passed with St Peter in the lower court) the 
mockery and insults offered to Jesus by the men who held 
him (v. 63-65) * then (v. 60) the leading away of Jesus 
from the hall of the high priest to the apartment where 
the Jewish council had met (v. 67, 68); the protest 
delivered by Jesus before replying to the question : Art 
thou the Christ f Further, it is St Luke alone who dis- 
tinguishes that question exactly from the one concerning 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 379 

his quality as the Son of God (Luke v. 70, compared with 
Matth. v. 63, aucl St Mark, v, 61). Here St Luke 
renders literally the declaration of Jesus concerning his 
approaching exaltation : Hereafter shall the Son of Man 

SIT ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE POWER OF GOD, where St 

Matthew (v. 64) continuing the prophecy, speaks of his 
coming in the clouds of heaven ; and in this is followed 
by St Mark (v. 67). It is not to be doubted that Jesus 
spoke as St Luke has recorded the words; while St Mat- 
thew and St Mark render these expressions by way of 
an authentic commentary. 

But it is chiefly, as we have already intimated, by the 
re-establishment of the proper historical order, that St 
Luke is found of the utmost importance as respects the 
evangelical harmony at this place. We hare already 
remarked how, while he abandons the order followed 
by St Matthew and St Mark, he makes the denials of 
Peter precede the appearance of Jesus before the San- 
hedrim, and then (v. 63-65) represents the insults offered 
to the Lord by the servants, as occurring at the same time 
with the denials of him by Peter ; that is to say, equally 
before our Saviour's being led away to the meeting of the 
council. That this was the real order, clearly appears 
from the circumstances themselves leaving no doubt as to 
the times at which they successively occurred. The denials 
by Peter took place contemporaneously with the crow- 
ing of the cod' ; the assembling of the elders and the high 
priests, and the interrogatory of our Lord before their 
council, according to St Luke (v. 66), tvhen it tuas day. 

St John confirms this view of the order of events, and 
further elucidates their mutual bearings with those details 
of his which are invariably so profoundly significant and 
touching. Let us trace these from the very commence- 



380 THE FOUR WITNESSES, 

rnent of this whole passage of Scripture. Starting from 
the apprehension of our Lord in Gethseniane, he repre- 
sents Jesus ^ first led away to Annas (v. 12 and 13). 
Immediately afterwards (v. 13, compared with the 
24th), he observes, that Jesus was taken from thence to 
Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. 
After this, he introduces a circumstance (v. 15, 16), omit- 
ted by all three synoptical Evangelists, but from which 
the original cause of St Peter's being present in the lower 
hall, becomes no less simple than it is fitted to throw 
light on all besides. St John, being already known in the 
high priest's house, is the first to enter with Jesus into 
the hall, while St Peter remained without : it was through 
the intervention of St John, that the woman that kept the 
door at length allowed the former also to come in. We 
then find anew in St John, a circumstance of great impor- 
tance, which also takes place previous to the examination 
of our Lord by the whole council ; to wit, a private inter- 
rogatory addressed to him by Caiaphas, in which the high 
priest questions the Saviour touching his disciples and 
his doctrine (v. 19). The reply follows (v. 20 and 21), 
and immediately thereupon we have another highly in- 
teresting circumstance connected with our Lord's pas- 
sion (v. 22) : one of the officers of the high priest strikes 
Jesus in the face, and Jesus, in conformity with his 
own command, 1 understood not in its fruitless material 
meaning but according to its spiritual import, offers to 
him the other cheek also, in these memorable words 
(v. 23) : If I have spoken evil, hear vntness of the evil, 
hut if vjell, why smitest thou me f whilst (v. 24) it will 
be seen, that during the whole of this unworthy treatment 
Jesus vjas hound, for it was thus that Annas had sent him 

1 Matth. v. 39. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORDS PASSION. 381 

to Caiaphas. 1 This first smiting on the face, mentioned 
by St John alone, plainly enough appears to have been the 
occasion and the example of all the others that were given 
to Jesus by the servants, not, as one might suppose, from 
the order followed by St Matthew and St Mark after the 
trial, but, as appears from the historical connexion sup- 
plied by St Luke (v. 62-66), previous to our Lord's being- 
led into the council hall ; or properly, and according to St 
John, during the time that elapsed betwixt the private 
interrogatory before the high priest and that before the 
council. St Matthew's and St Mark's placing those insults 
at a later stage, can be accounted for by observing, that 
after the condemnation of Jesus, some members of the 
council may have insulted or mocked him ; but this does 
not militate against the attacks and insults of the servants 
necessarily taking place sooner, and at a moment such as 
that which we have indicated, at which Jesus was solely 
and exclusively under the guard of these men. 

But the comparison of St Luke with St John in the 
places referred to, throws new light also on this impor- 
tant circumstance, — that, after Peter's third denial, and 
during the second cock-crowing, the Lord looked upon 
him, and made him return to himself by a piercing 
glance of Divine love and omniscience. In what manner, 
and under what circumstances, may we represent to our- 
selves that striking moment 1 According to all we have 
hitherto observed, very simply thus : The denials were 
made in the lower hall, whilst above, in the same place, 

1 Unus alteram ovv supplet, (according to our translators now, v. 24), vel Se 
vel re. Nil opus est. Jesum ad Anna ad Caiapliam fuisse due turn indicarat 
Joannes, v. 15, in verbo avveiarfkde et ipsa toties repetita pontificis appella- 
tions: nunc vero id ipsum re-assumit, et expressius memorat cum mentione 
vinculorum, in quibus alapam indignissimam accepit Salvator. Bengel, 
ad h. 1, 



382 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Jesus was first interrogated by the high priest ; and 
afterwards, on the departure of the latter, abandoned to 
the insolence of the servants. All this occupies nearly 
an hour (Luke v. 59). But Jesus is now led away out of 
the public hall into another apartment in the house of 
the high priest, where the council was met. In order to 
reach that other apartment, he had to pass through the 
yery place where Peter, surrounded with a menacing 
crowd of people, denies his Master. At that same in- 
stant, then, Jesus passes, turns as he is led along, and 
looks upon the disciple, who by that look is recalled to 
himself, and bursts into tears. But at the same instant 
the threatening danger is turned off from St Peter. For 
the attention of the crowd, as it presses upon him, is 
withdrawn from the disciple by the passage of the Lord 
himself ; and thus the former has but to take advantage 
of the general confusion to effect his escape. Here, 
again, the Lord diverts evil from one of his oiun by 
attracting it towards himself. 

Does there possibly remain some further difficulty with 
respect to an entire accordance among the four Evan- 
gelists concerning all the details of Peter s denials of 
our Lord, related as these are with so much fulness \ 
Let us see, then, the apparent contradictions on which 
objections are founded, and then seek their solution by 
the application of the simplest principles. The apparent 
contradictions are summed up as follows : — 1st, Jesus had 
foretold, Thou shalt deny me thrice ; and yet a greater 
number than three arises from putting together the diffe- 
rent accounts given by the four Evangelists of the words 
uttered by the Apostle. 2d, The Evangelists differ with 
respect to the persons who attack St Peter and interro- 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 383 

gate hiin. St Matthew at the second denial speaks of two 
maids ; St Luke (v. 58), of some one of those who were 
present; St John (v. 25), of several persons. At the third 
denial, St Matthew (v. 73) and St Mark (v. 70) speak of 
the spectators in the plural ; St Luke anew (v. 59) speaks 
of one only; St John (y. 26) speaks of a servant of the high 
priest, kinsman of Malchus, who was wounded by Peter 
in Gethsemane. 3d, In the synoptical Gospels, Peter is 
spoken of as seated — in St John, as standing at the fire. 
There is no difficulty in reconciling these apparent 
discrepancies, provided we but attend to a proper dis- 
tinction. 1st, With respect to the difficulty arising from 
the number of the denials by Peter, we must not 
take up this number three, in the accounts we have of 
what took place, in too strict and limited a manner : in 
such sense Peter disowned his Lord more than three 
times ; but the threefold denial refers to the attacks 
directed against the Apostle, and reiterated three times 
from different sides, on each of which occasions he endea- 
voured to defend himself against more than one of the 
assailants or bystanders by that fearful falsehood: I know 
him not, — With respect to the persons indicated in the 
four Gospels in different manners, we must bear in mind 
that in the account of the first denial all four Evangelists 
attribute the attack equally to a maid. It is only at the 
second denial that there begins to be an apparent diffe- 
rence. In St Matthew (v. 71), this second denial com- 
mences after the mention of another servant ; in St Mark 
(v. 69), after that of the same servant. We have already 
explained this slight difference. 1 St Luke's not speak- 
ing here (v. 58) of a maid, but of a bystander, and St 
John of several bystanders, may be easily explained by the 

1 See p. 377. 



384 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

nature of the circumstance. Nothing more natural than 
that, after what had been said by the maid, the attention 
first of one, and then of several of the bystanders (such 
as the servants belonging to the house and others), should 
be drawn to Peter, and that thus they should all have 
joined in the attack commenced against him by the maid. 
Nothing more natural, also, than that the Apostle, in 
addressing one, should have used certain words, and to 
another have addressed other words, with no other object 
but that of getting out of the dispute. — At the third 
denial the difficulty becomes yet less. St Matthew and St 
Mark speak there of bystanders in the plural ; St Luke 
positively of one of the multitude ; St John, in accordance 
with the nature of his plan, gives us to know one by 
saying who he ivas : to wit, a kinsman of that Malchus 
whose right ear had been cut off by Peter in the garden. 
In fine, 3d, As for what concerns the difference among 
the Gospels with respect to St Peter, as to his being 
seated near the fire, or standing near it, the synoptical 
Gospels represent to us the Apostle at the commence- 
ment as seated near the fire; but St John does not 
contradict this statement when (v. 18-25) he says that 
Peter stood. 1 This description of the Apostle as standing 
applies to a subsequent moment, whilst nothing is more 
easily conceivable than that the agitation of mind into 
which he was thrown must have prevented him from 
keeping his seat, must have compelled him to get up 
and go away, to return again, and to remain standing. 
By simply attending to these observations, which at the 
same time discover to us afresh in each of the four 

1 It is evident that the words (v. 25, 26) are no more than a simple repetition 
of the 18th verse, to prevent ambiguity on resuming the thread of the narrative, 
after the intermediate statement comprised in v. 19-24:. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 385 

Evangelists, and particularly in that of St John, the 
characteristics which we formerly described, all difficulty 
vanishes, and the harmony becomes evident. 

The succession, therefore, of important incidents, from 
the apprehension of Jesus in Gethsemane to his con- 
demnation by the Sanhedrim, is equally certain and 
regular on being viewed in the following manner : — 1. 
Jesus is led bound before Annas (according to St John) ; 
2. From thence, still remaining bound, he is taken away 
to the house of the high priest for that year, Caiaphas 
(according to all four Evangelists) ; 3. Guarded by ser- 
vants, he is kept waiting there for some time in the upper 
hall (according to all four Evangelists); 4. St Peter, 
meanwhile, following the example of St John, is admitted 
by the porteress (according to St John) ; and, 5. Takes 
his place among a number of the servants near the fire 
in the lower hall (according to all the Evangelists) ; G. 
The high priest subjects Jesus to an interrogatory (ac- 
cording to St John) ; 7. Jesus replies, and is struck 
upon the face by one of the officers (according to St 
John); 8. The high priest having again retired, and 
having left Jesus alone with the officers, the rest of these 
men seize this opportunity for striking and insulting our 
Lord (according to St Luke, compared with St Matthew 
and St Mark) ; 9. While the upper hall is the scene 
of all these things, Peter's denials of his Master take 
place in the lower hall. He denies him for the first time 
(according to all the Evangelists), — first cock-crowing 
(according to St Mark); 10. He goes out by the front 
door into the fore-court of the house (according to St 
Mark); but, 11. Returns and disowns his Master the 
second and the third time, — second cock-crowing (accord- 

2 B 



386 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

ing to St Mark); 12. Shortly before that very moment 
an order comes for Jesus to be conducted before the 
council, which had met in another hall of the high priest's 
house ; 13. Our Lord passes the place where Peter 
finds himself pressed and threatened by the multitude. 
He turns round and looks upon Peter (according to St 
Luke); 14, St Peter returns to himself, and weeps bit- 
terly (according to the three synoptical Gospels); 15. 
Day dawns — the council is met — the false witnesses are 
heard (according to St Matthew and St Mark); 16. 
The high priest adjures Jesus to say whether he is the 
Christ (according to St Luke, compared with St Matthew 
and with St Mark); 17. He replies separately to that 
question and to that other, whether he is the Son of God 
(according to St Luke, compared with St Matthew and 
St Mark); 18. After these words the council condemns 
him on account of blasphemy, and declares him guilty of 
death (according to the three synoptical Evangelists). 

JESUS BEFORE PILATE AND HEROD. 

Matth. xxvii. 1-31. Makk xv. 1-20. 

When the morning was come, all And straightway in the morning 
the chief priests and elders of the the chief priests held a consulta- 
people took counsel against Jesus tion with the elders and scribes, 
to put him to death. and the whole council, 

2. And when they had bound him, And bound Jesus, and carried 
they led him away, and delivered him away, and delivered him to 
him to Pontius Pilate the governor. Pilate. 
8. Then Judas, which had betrayed 
him, when he saw that he was 
condemned, repented himself, and 
brought again the thirty pieces of 
silver to the chief priests and el- 
ders, 4. Saying, I have sinned in 
that I have have betrayed the in- 
nocent blood. And they said, What 
is that to us? see thou to that. 
5. And he cast down the pieces of 
silver in the temple, and departed} 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



387 



and went and hanged himself. G. 
And the chief priests took the silver 
pieces, and said, It is not lawful for 
to put them into the treasury, be- 
cause it is the price of blood. 7. 
And they took counsel, and bought 
with them the potter's field, to bury 
strangers in. 8. Wherefore that 
field was called, The field of blood, 
unto this day. 9. (Then was ful- 
filled that which was spoken by 
Jeremy the prophet, saying, And 
they took the thirty pieces of sil- 
ver, the price of him that was va- 
lued, whom they of the children of 
Israel did value; 10. And gave 
them for the potter's field, as the 
Lord appointed me.) 

1 1 . And Jesus stood before the 
governor : and the governor asked 
him, saying, Art thou the King of 
the Jews ? And Jesus said unto 
him, Thou sayest. 

12. And when he was accused of 
the chief priests and elders, he an- 
swered nothing. 13. Then saith 
Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not 
how many things they witness 
against thee ? 14. And he answered 
him to never a word ; insomuch 
that the governor marvelled great- 
ly. (John xix. 9-10.) 

15. Now at that feast the go- 
vernor was wont to release unto 
the people a prisoner, whom they 
would. 1(3. And they had then a 
notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 
17. Therefore, when they were ga- 
thered together, Pilate said unto 
them, "Whom will ye that I release 
unto you ? Barabbas, or Jesus 
which is called Christ ? 18. For he 
knew that for envy they had deli- 
livered him. 19. When he was 
set down on the judgment- seat, his 
wife sent unto him, saying, Have 
thou nothing to do with that just 



2. xVnd Pilate asked him, Art 
thou the King of the Jews ? And 
he answering, said unto him, Thou 
sayest it. 



3. And the chief priests accused 
him of many things ; but he an- 
swered nothing. 4. And Pilate 
asked him again, saying, Answerest 
thou nothing? behold how many 
things they witness against thee. 
5. But Jesus yet answered no- 
thing ; so that Pilate marvelled. 

6. Now at that feast he released 
unto them one prisoner, whomso- 
ever they desired. 7. And there 
was one named Barabbas, which 
lay bound with them that had made 
insurrection with him, who had 
committed murder in the insurrec- 
tion. 8. And the multitude, cry- 
ing aloud, began to desire him to 
do as he had ever done unto them. 
9. But Pilate answered them, say- 
ing, Will ye that I release unto you 
the King of the Jews? 10. (For 
he knew that the chief priests had 
delivered him for envy.) 



388 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



man : for I have suffered many 
things this day in a dream because 
of him. 

20. But the chief priests and 
elders persuaded the multitude that 
they should ask Barabbas, and 
destroy Jesus. 21. The governor 
answered and said unto them, Whe- 
ther of the twain will ye that I 
release unto you ? They said, Ba- 
rabbas. 

22. Pilate saith unto them, What 
shall I do then with Jesus which is 
called Christ? They all say unto him, 
Let him be crucified. 23. And the 
governor said, Why, what evil hath 
he done? But they cried out the 
more, saying, Let him be crucified. 
24. When Pilate saw that he could 
prevail nothing, but that rather a 
tumult was made, he took water, 
and washed his hands before the 
multitude, saying, I am innocent of 
the blood of this just person ; see 
ye to it. 25. Then answered all 
the people, and said, His blood be 
on us, and on our children. 

26. Then released he Barabbas 
unto them : and when he had 
scourged Jesus, he delivered him 
to be crucified. 

27. Then the soldiers of the go- 
vernor took Jesus into the common 
hall, and gathered unto him the 
whole band of soldiers. 28. And 
they stripped him, and put on him 
a scarlet robe. 29. And when they 
had platted a crown of thorns, they 
put it upon his head, and a reed 
in his right hand : and they bowed 
the knee before him, and mocked 
him, saying, Hail, King of the 
Jews ! 30. And they spit upon 
him, and took the reed, and smote 
him on the head. 

31. And after that they had 



11. But the chief priests moved 
the people, that he should rather 
release Barabbas unto them. 



12. And Pilate answered and 
said again unto them, What will ye 
then that I shall do unto him whom 
ye call the King of the Jews ? 13. 
And they cried out again, Crucify 
him. 14. Then Pilate said unto 
them, Why, what evil hath he done? 
And they cried out the more ex- 
ceedingly, Crucify him. 



15. And so Pilate, willing to 
content the people, released Ba- 
rabbas unto them, and delivered 
Jesus, when he had scourged him, 
to be crucified. 

16. And the soldiers led him 
away into the hall (Gr. at»X>)) call- 
ed Pretorium ; and they call to- 
gether the whole band. 17. And 
they clothed him with purple, and 
platted a crown of thorns, and put 
it about his head, 18. And began 
to salute him, Hail, King of the 
Jews! 19. And they smote him 
on the head with a reed, and did 
spit upon him, and, bowing their 
knees, worshipped him. 



20* And when they had mocked 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



38D 



mocked him, they took the robe him, they took off the purple from 

off from him, and put his own him, and put his own clothes on 

raiment on him, and led him away him, and led him out to crucify 

to crucify him. him. 



Luke xxiii. 1-26. 
And the whole multitude of them 
arose, and led him unto Pilate. 



2. And they began to accuse 
him, saying, "We found this fellow 
perverting the nation, and forbid- 
ding to give tribute to Caesar, say- 
ing that he himself is Christ a 
Kin 2. 



3. And Pilate asked him, say- 
ing, Art thou the King of the Jews ? 
And he answered and said, Thou 
sayest it. 

4. Then said Pilate to the chief 
priests and to the people, I find no 
fault in this man. 5. And they 
were the more fierce, saying, He 
stirreth up the people, teaching 
throughout all Jewry, beginning 
from Galilee to this place. 6. 
When Pilate heard of Galilee, he 
asked whether the man were a Ga- 
lilean ? 7. And as soon as he knew 
that he belonged unto Herod's ju- 
risdiction, he sent him to Herod, 
who himself also was at Jerusalem 
at that time. 8. And when Herod 
saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad : 



John xviii. 28-40. — xix. 1-16. 

Then led they Jesus from Caia- 
phas unto the hall of judgment: 
and it was early ; and they them- 
selves went not into the judg- 
ment hall, lest they should be de- 
filed, but that they might eat the 
passover. 

29. Pilate then went out unto 
them, and said, What accusation 
bring ye against this man? 30. 
They answered and said unto him, 
If he were not a malefactor, we 
would not have delivered him up 
unto thee. 31. Then said Pilate 
unto them, Take ye him, and judge 
him according to your law. The 
Jews therefore said unto him, It is 
not lawful for us to put any man 
to death : 32. That the saying of 
Jesus might be fulfilled, which he 
spake, signifying what death he 
should die. 

33. Then Pilate entered into the 
judgment-hall again, and called 
Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou 
the King of the Jews? 34. Jesus 
answered him, Sayest thou this 
thing of thyself, or did others tell 
it thee of me? 35. Pilate answer- 
ed, Am I a Jew? Thine own 
nation and the chief priests have 
delivered thee unto me : What 
hastthoudone? 36. Jesus answered, 
My kingdom is not of this world. 
If my kingdom were of this world, 
then would my servants fight, that 
I should not be delivered to the 
Jews : but now is nvy kingdom not 
from hence. 37. Pilate therefore 
said unto him, Art thou a king 
then ? Jesus answered, Thou sayest 



390 



THE FOUR WITNESSES, 



for he was desirous to see him of a 
long season, because he had heard 
many things of him ; and he hoped 
to have seen some miracle done by 
him. 9. Then he questioned with 
him in many words ; but he an- 
swered him nothing. 10. And the 
chief priests and scribes stood and 
vehemently accused him . 1 1 . And 
Herod with his men of war set 
him at nought, and mocked him, 
and arrayed him in a gorgeous 
robe, and sent him again to Pilate. 
12. And the same day Pilate and 
Herod were made friends together ; 
for before they were at enmity be- 
tween themselves. 1 3 . And Pilate, 
when he had called together the 
chief priests, and the rulers, and 
the people, 14. Said unto them, 
Ye have brought this man unto me, 
as one that perverteth the people ; 
and, behold, I, having examined 
him before you, have found no fault 
in this man touching those things 
whereof ye accuse him: 15. No, 
nor yet Herod : for I sent you to 
him ; and, lo, nothing worthy of 
death is done unto him. 16. I will 
therefore chastise him, and release 
him. 

17. (For of necessity he must 
release one unto them at the feast.) 



18. And they cried out all at 
once, saying, Away with this man, 
and release unto us Barabbas : 
19. (Who for a certain sedition 
made in the city, and for murder, 
was cast into prison.) (Mark, v. 7). 

20. Pilate therefore, willing to 
release Jesus, spake again to them. 
21. But they cried, saying, Crucify 
him, crucify him. 22. And he said 
unto them the third time, Why, 



that I am a king. To this end was 
I born, and for this cause came I 
into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth. Every one 
that is of the truth heareth my 
voice. 38. Pilate saith unto him, 
What is truth ? And when he had 
said this, he went out again unto 
the Jews, and saith unto them, I 
find in him no fault at all. 



39. But ye have a custom, that 
I should release unto you one at 
the passover : will ye therefore 
that I release unto you the King 
of the Jews ? 

40. Then cried they all again, 
saying, Not this man, but Barab- 
bas. Now Barabbas was a robber. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION, 



391 



what evil hath he done? I have 
found no cause of death in him : I 
will therefore chastise him, and let 
him go (v. 16 above). 23. And 
they were instant with loud voices, 
requiring that he might be cruci- 
fied : and the voices of them and of 
the chief priests prevailed. 

24. And Pilate gave sentence 
that it should be as they required. 
25. And he released unto them 
him that for sedition and murder 
was cast into prison, whom they 
had desired ; but he delivered Je- 
sus to their will. 

2Q. And as they led him away, 
they laid hold upon one Simon, a 
Cyreiiian, coming out of the coun- 
try, and on him they laid the cross, 
that he might bear it after Jesus. 



xix. 1-16. Then Pilate therefore 
took Jesus, and scourged him. 

2. And the soldiers platted a 
crown of thorns, and put it on his 
head, and they put on him a purple 
robe, 3. And said, Hail, King of 
the Jews ! and they smote him 
with their hands. 4. Pilate there- 
fore went forth again, and saith 
unto them, Behold, I bring him 
forth to you, that ye may know 
that I find no fault in him. 5. 
Then came Jesus forth, wearing 
the crown of thorns, and the purple 
robe. And Pilate saith unto them, 
Behold the man ! 6. When the chief 
priests therefore and officers saw 
him, they cried out, saying, Cru- 
cify him, crucify him. Pilate saith 
unto them, Take ye him, and cru- 
cify him : for I find no fault in 
him. 7. The Jews answered him, 
We have a law, and by our law he 
ought to die, because he made him- 
self the Son of God. 8. When 
Pilate therefore heard that saying, 
he was the more afraid; 9. And 
went again into the judgment-hall, 
and saith unto Jesus, Whence art 
thou ? But Jesus gave him no an- 
swer. 10. Then saith Pilate unto 
him, Speakest thou not unto me? 
knowest thou not that I have power 
to crucify thee, and have power to 
release thee? 11. Jesus answered, 
Thou couldest have no power at all 
against me, except it were given 
thee from above : therefore he that 
delivered me unto thee hath the 



392 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

greater sin. 12. And from thence- 
forth Pilate sought to release him : 
but the Jews cried out, saying, If 
thou let this man go, thou art not 
Csesar's friend : Avhosoever maketh 
himself a king, speaketh against 
Ciesar. 13. When Pilate there- 
fore heard that saying, he brought 
Jesus forth, and sat down in the 
judgment-seat in a place that is 
called the Pavement, but in the 
Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14. And it 
was the preparation of the pass- 
over, and about the sixth hour : 
and he saith unto the Jews, Behold 
your King ! 15. But they cried out, 
Away with him, away with him, 
crucify him. Pilate saith unto 
them, Shall I crucify your King? 
The chief priests answered, "We 
have no king but CaBsar. 

16. Then delivered he him there- 
fore unto them to be crucified . And 
they took Jesus, and led him away. 

Some expositors have most unjustifiably concluded from 
certain of St Matthew's expressions (v. 1), adopted by St 
Mark (v. 1), that Jesus underwent a second trial before 
the Jewish council. The case stands simply thus : St 
Matthew and St Mark (who follows his predecessor step 
by step) had already recorded the interrogatory before 
the council, and the sentence to which it had led, as we 
have seen in the preceding section. But as they intro- 
duce Peter's denials of our Lord behveen these pro- 
ceedings before the council and his being led away to 
Pilate, they here resume the thread of their narrative 
with a short abstract. This mention by St Matthew and 
St Mark, of the meeting of the council, and of the resolu- 
tion to have Jesus put to death, is nothing more, there- 
fore, than a recalling to mind, and a summary of what 
had been previously related at greater length, and on that 



THE NARRATIVES OP OUR LORD'S PASSION. 393 

account is not to be found either in the Gospel of St 
Luke (who makes the delivery of Jesus to Pilate follow 
immediately upon the judgment passed by the council) 
or in that of St John. Thus, we have another instance 
here of one of those repetitions of St Matthew's, which 
naturally arise from the greater freedom, and less strict- 
ness of attention to order, in the mode of writing by 
which he is distinguished ; while St Mark, by a slight 
modification of what he has taken from St Matthew, points 
already to the true explanation: according to him, the 
decision of the council of the elders and the scribes, had 
evidently for its object not the condemnation of Jesus, 
for that was already settled, but his being delivered to 
Pilate (Mark xv. 1). 

Next follows, in St Matthew, a passage again quite pecu- 
liar to himself, and every way in accordance with the plan 
and character of his Gospel. The horrific end of the 
traitor Judas, could be fitly recorded by no one so well 
as by a fellow Apostle ; and how could we expect this to 
be done by St Matthew, without a reference to the word 
of prophecy 1 It is St Matthew who relates the cata- 
strophe, and therefore we do not find it recorded in the 
regular order of time (for it is not likely that the suicide 
of Judas took place at so early an hour in the morning, 
but rather at a time when the condemnation of the Just 
one had been already pronounced by Pilate) ; but in one 
breath, so to speak, with the account of what took place 
at the meeting of the Sanhedrim. Moreover, the details 
which he gives us, are in harmony with the Israelitic 
and prophetic character of his whole Gospel. First, 
we have the repeated mention of the prophesied pieces of 
silver ; in the second place, the admission of the innocence 
of Jesus by the very disciple who betrayed him ; thirdly, 



394 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the purpose to which that money was applied by the high 
priests, as well as their revulsion from the price of blood ; 
fourthly, the quotation of the striking words of the 
prophet ; fifthly, and finally (v. 5), the death of the cul- 
prit by self-strangulation, after confession of his offence 
(v. 4), but without any penitent recourse to the grace of 
God. All these details were eminently important as 
respects the impression they were likely to make on an 
Israelite reader. 

In what he further records, St Matthew again supplies 
the groundwork for the narratives of his fellow Evan- 
gelists, but always with numerous details which do not 
cease to be peculiarly his own, and fully express both the 
point of view from which he contemplated the scenes he 
describes, and his personal calling and individuality, such 
as we have all along observed them. 

The description given of Jesus (v. 11) standing before 
the governor, is found only in St Matthew. Did it not 
recall to his thoughts the words of the prophet : as a 
sheep before her shearers f Then the silence maintained 
by our Lord before Pilate, Avhich St John places at a sub- 
sequent moment (v. 9, 10), and, as it would appear, at 
the proper historical place, is recorded by St Matthew 
(v. 12 and 14), followed here also by St Mark (v. 3 and 5), 
at the first interrogatory before the governor. St Luke 
mentions a like sublime silence only before Herod (v. 9). 

Subsequently, when the question arises about the re- 
leasing of a prisoner, none of the Evangelists records in 
so striking a manner as St Matthew, the parallel between 
Jesus and Barabbas, and the accomplishment at that very 
moment of the prophecy : He was numbered with the 
transgressors. In his Gospel alone do we find the words 
addressed by Pilate to the people so distinctly given 



THE N ARE ATI YES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 395 

(v. 17) : Whom will ye that I release unto you? Bar ab- 
bas, or Jesus ivhich is called Christ f And, again (v. 20) : 
The chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that 
they should ash for Bar abbas, and destroy Jesus; and 
afterwards (v. 21), in the second question put by Pilate : 
Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? 
St Mark already shews much more conciseness in this part 
of his Gospel ; St Luke gives a summary statement of 
that intermediate event (v. 17 and 18); St John records 
it likewise in a few words, which terminate in the short 
and impressive observation : Noiv, Bar abbas tvas a robber 
(v. 39, 40). 

Further, it is in our first Gospel alone that we find the 
dream of Pilate's wife, 1 and in consequence of that dream, 
the warning sent to her husband : Have thou nothing to 
do tvith that just man. Revelations communicated by 
means of dreams, are intimately associated with the 
peculiar relation maintained by St Matthew with the Old 
Testament (Matth. i. 20, ii. 12, 13, 19). As a homage 
on the part of the Gentiles to the King of the Jews, this 
particular incident, too, found its most fitting place in St 
Matthew (comp. ii. 1, 2). 

Meanwhile, it is by this intervening incident that St 
Matthew clearly explains to us what the precise moment 
was of which the high priests availed themselves to per- 
suade the people to ask for the release of Barabbas and 
not of Jesus (v. 17-20). 

When, afterwards, Pilate had no longer the courage to 
resist the tumult, but continues, nevertheless, to protest 



1 That at the time these events took place, Roman governors were allowed to 
take their wives to the provinces along with them, is in our days placed beyond 
a doubt. The reader may consult Tacitus, Ann. 1. i. cap. 40 ; ii. cap. 55 ; iii. 
cap. 33. 



396 THE FOUK WITNESSES, 

in favour of the innocence of Jesus, and imagines that he 
in such a way could remain guiltless of shedding innocent 
blood, it is only in St Matthew that we find this protes- 
tation accompanied with a symbolical action, well known 
to the Jews from the writings of Moses, and to which 
other nations also were nowise strangers : He took water \ 
and washed his hands} before the multitude (v. 24). 

Immediately afterwards (v. 25) St Matthew, and here 
again none but him, records, in conformity with the pro- 
phetic tendency which is peculiar to him, that frightful 
saying of the Jews, of which the accomplishment is still, 
after the lapse of eighteen centuries, before our eyes : His 
blood be on us, and on our children. 

Here (v. 26), and afterwards in St Mark (v. 15), the 
scourging of Jesus is recorded without the addition of any 
accompanying circumstances; in a single word, as if by 
the way. It is only in St John that we find that part of 
the outrages inflicted on Jesus in its proper place and 
in its full connexion ; while St Luke (as we shall see 
hereafter) fully informs us of the true nature of that 
scourging. 

Then the outrages committed by the insolent soldiery 
in the PraBtorium are recorded by St Matthew, and after 
him by St Mark, without their observing the precise 
order of events. It is only St John who throws sufficient 
light on that part of the Saviour's passion, to enable 
us to perceive that it did not follow, but precede 
the final acquiescence of the governor in the will of the 
people. 

The mocking of Pilate's soldiers presents us with two 

1 Deut. xxi. 1-9. As respects the heathen "Edos Tyj reus Trakaiois (says 
the Scholiast on the Ajax of Sophocles, v. 66±), orav ij <p6vov avdpto-nov ij 
ak\as <r(J>ayas iiroiovv, i/dciTi airov'mruv ras ^Ipa? «S tcdOapaiv tov fiidafiaros. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 397 

remarkable particulars as recorded by St Matthew : first, 
the reed placed instead of a sceptre in the hand of the 
suffering King ; then the bowing of the knee in derision. 
For this St Mark employs the proper Roman word, to 
salute. 1 No doubt, in writing this description, the soul of 
St Matthew was impressed with the recollection of these 
words of the psalm : / shall give thee the heathen for 
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
thy jwssession. 2 In the very derision of the wicked there 
was, on the Lord's part, while permitting it, a hidden pro- 
phetic meaning. 

St Mark, as we have seen, here follows closely the 
footsteps of St Matthew, only abridging here and there 
the narrative of his predecessor. His amplifications and 
modifications of expression are equally of the same nature, 
as we before observed. Thus (v. 4) he gives Pilate's 
impatient question in the expressive words : Answer est 
thou nothing f Thus he is the first who gives the striking 
elucidation (adopted afterwards by St Luke) concerning 
Barabbas, that he lay bound with them that had made 
insurrection with him, who had committed murder in tlie 
insurrection (St Luke here further adds only that this 
sedition had been in the city, v. 19). But what, above 
all, makes St Mark's Gospel interesting at this part, is 
the circumstance preserved by him alone, that the asking 
for the release of a prisoner at the feast, according to the 
usual custom, came from the midst of the multitude (v. 8); 
so that Pilate, in conformity with his whole mode of pro- 
cedure in this affair (never acting directly, but always in 
the way of exercising his influence), even takes advantage 

1 Gr. dandle a $ai. Lat. aliquem regem vel impcratorem SALUTAREi 

2 Ps. ii. S. Comp. Rev. iii. 26, 27. 



398 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

of this demand, in order, if possible, to save Jesus. The 
proposal is expressed in rather general terms by St John 
as well as by St Matthew ; and but for St Mark's obser- 
vation, Pilate might appear (contrary to what we should 
expect from the pride of a Roman) to have been the first 
to suggest the release. — What we find further added in this 
second Gospel is not without meaning (v. 15): And so 
Pilate, willing to content the people, released Bar ab- 
bas unto them. Finally (v. 20), St Mark here again lays 
an emphasis on an important circumstance already re- 
corded by St Matthew (v. 31): After they had mocked 
Jesus, they took the robe off from him, and put his own 
raiment (ra i&ia,*) on Mm. It would appear, then, from a 
comparison of this with St John's account (v. 13-16), 
that Jesus was delivered by Pilate to be put to death as 
King of the Jews, while he yet wore the royal garments 
put in mockery upon him. 

St Luke pursues his historical course in placing facts 
in a new order, by means of some remarkable additions 
and modifications. 

The charge of having wished to set up a worldly 
kingdom in the face of the imperial authority is fully 
brought out only by him (v. 2) : We found this fellow 
perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to 
Ccesar, saying that he himself is Christ, the 1 King — (and 
yet only a few days before, he had said, Render unto 
Ccesar the things that are Caesars, with a direct reference 
to the payment of tribute !) St Luke (xx. 26) observes 
on that occasion, that the Pharisees could not take hold 
of his words before the people. Now they wrest the 

1 Thus in the author's rendering, instead of " a king," as in our authorized 
Bible.— Tr. 



THE NARK ATI YES OP OUE LOM^S PASSIOK 399 

words of Jesus, and slander hint falsely before the 

GOVEENOE. 

Here tlie question and answer respecting the Saviour's 
kingship (v. 3) are given with great conciseness. We shall 
find St John far more ample in his details. But St Luke, 
on the other hand, is the only one that records the send- 
ing of Jesus to Herod — a circumstance of the veiy highest 
importance (v. 4-17). Pilate, seizing the opportunity 
presented to him by the cry raised by the chief priests 
and the people (v. 5), inquires of them whether Jesus be 
a Galilean (v. 6); and, on their ans wering in the affirma- 
tive, imagines that he has found the means of ridding 
himself of the embarrassment which the affair was causing 
him, by sending the accusers to Herod, — not that he 
might have Jesus condemned by him, but in order to 
have the validity of the accusation preferred against Jesus 
on the ground of a disturbance in Galilee (v. 5, 14, 15), 
decided by the testimony of a Galilean prince. Here, 
consequently, we find in our historical Evangelist,— 
1st, The mention of a Herod, which we have already 
spoken of as characteristic in St Luke ; J 2d, That most 
important particular (v. 8 and 9) of the silence observed 
by the Saviour in the presence of a man who wanted 
merely to gratify an idle curiosity by seeing him perform 
a miracle ; as well as, 3d, The derision (v. 11) that fol- 
lowed that holy silence ; finally, ith, The observation 
how Pilate and Herod, formerly enemies, on this occasion 
became friends (v. 12) — a circumstance to which we fur- 
ther find a striking allusion made in a prayer of the 
Apostles (Acts iv. 27, 28). 

But our Evangelist is of the greatest importance here in 
elucidating that leading circumstance in our Lord's pas- 

1 P. 153. 



400 THE FOUK WITNESSES. 

sion before Pilate, to wit, the scourging. In as much as 
St Matthew and St Mark make mention of this outrage 
immediately before Jesus was delivered oyer to be crucified, 
one might imagine for a moment, that what we have to 
contemplate here is that species of flagellation which used 
often to precede crucifixion as an aggravation of the 
punishment, much in the same way as, in the penal code 
of France, the right hand of the parricide, it is ordained, 
shall be cut off previous to his being beheaded. And 
such is the view that many have taken of the scourging of 
Jesus ; others (with still less appearance of probability) have 
supposed it a kind of torture. St Luke enables us to see 
the matter in its true light. In his Gospel (v. 16), Pilate 
declares to the Jews, after his finding that the sending of 
the accused to Herod had produced nothing to his preju- 
dice, that he should be scourged and then set at liberty. 
And now, when, previous to that projected punishment, 
the attempt still to save Jesus, by taking advantage of the 
privilege enjoyed by the people at the feast, had failed, 
the governor makes a second attempt to cause the accused 
to be scourged and then to be released, a measure by 
which he seeks to appease both the Jews and his own 
conscience (v. 22). This chastisement, then, was, accord- 
ing to the invariable accuracy that characterises St Luke's 
expressions, nothing more than the judicial expression 
for scourging, 1 which, in point of fact, is nowhere 
mentionecj by St Luke but under that name. By this 
punishment the governor, in the exercise of his cruel 
benevolence, seems to have had in view some sensible 
correction or punishment, whereby a person who had not 

1 L. 7. Dig. de pcenis. " Fustiiim admonitio, flagellorum castigatio." In 
like manner the Evangelists and the Acts carefully distinguish betwixt the beat- 
ing with rods, and the, flagellation (scourging) with the whip. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 401 

been found guilty of any delinquency worthy of death, 
might, after due warning, be set at liberty. 1 For the 
purpose of engaging the feelings of the people by this 
means in his favour, he presents the victim thus cruelly 
insulted in his state of humiliation, held up in mockery as 
a king, as we shall see afterwards given in more detail by 
St John. But this half measure proved equally ineffectual 
for serving the governor's purpose. 

As for the rest (v. 22, compared with v. 4, 14 and 
15), St Luke here again attaches himself particularly to 
that declaration of the Saviour's innocence, repeated three 
several times by the governor. 2 The antithesis between 
the Prince of life and the murderer, stands out in strong 
relief in this gospel (v. 25). 3 He passes over the mock- 
ing by the soldiers in the Prsetoriuin ; but, as if to com- 
pensate for that omission, it is he alone who records for 
us, as we have seen, the mocking of Jesus by Herod and 
his satellites (v. 11) ; as respects which, also, the gorgeous, 
that is, the white robe, 4 has also its meaning, as an involun- 
tary tribute to the innocence, as well as to the royal 
dignity of our Lord. 

Here we again find the Gospel of St John of the utmost 
importance on account of his insertions, his explanations, 
and his fully recorded conversations, particularly those be- 
tween Jesus and the governor ; whilst he omits the sending 
of our Lord to Herod, and is very concise with respect to 
what passed regarding Barabbas. 

1 As in the Roman law an outrage committed against the patronus, for exam- 
ple, was punished according to L. 1. D. de jure patron atus: " Tantummodo 
CASTIGARI eum sub comminatione aliqud severitatis non defuturce, si rursus 
causam querelas prozbuerit, et demitti oportet." See this castigari et demitti 
(the very words of Pilate in St Luke) also in L. 7. D. de extraord. crimin. 
Among such misdeeds punishable by magistrates with a discretionary penalty, 
Grotius reckons the introduction of foreign modes and objects of worship. 

2 Comp. p. 176. 3 Comp. Acts iii. 14, 15. 4 Vulg. veste alba. 

2 C 



402 THE POUR WITNESSES. 

It is he alone who throws the clearest light on the 
insults done to Jesus in the Prsetorium, in connexion with 
the objects which Pilate had in view. Let us look at the 
details : — 

First of all, he directs our notice (v. 28) to the hypo- 
crisy of the chief priests and scribes, who refrain from 
entering the pagan governor's Prsetorium lest they defile 
themselves — while they at the same time call on him to 
put the innocent to death, thus truly straining at a gnat, 
and swallowing a camel. 1 At the same time, both here 
and afterwards (xix. 14), he fixes our attention on pre- 
cise periods. Further, it is only in his Gospel that we 
find this circumstance — that Pilate complied with the 
scruples of the Jews, and from time to time came out of 
the Prsetorium to address them (v. 29, 33, xix. 9). It 
is through St John alone that we see how the good con- 
fession of his kingship 2 was made by the Saviour in the 
governor's Prsetoriimi, representing the Roman monarchy 
(v. 33 and following verses). It is only here that we 
have the first words that were exchanged betwixt the 
chief priests and the governor ; and on the occasion of 
those words being spoken, the recalling of what had been 
said prophetically by Jesus himself, to wit, that he should 
be put to death, not after the manner of the Jews, but 
upon the cross, which was used for punishment by the 
Romans (v. 29-32) — and which death he had on several 
occasions in this same Gospel called his being lifted up. 
Not less remarkable here are the more ample explana- 
tions which the Saviour, with a Divine wisdom, asks and 
gives, before he comes to the direct confession : that he 
is king. Then, from the simple words of Jesus (v. 36), 
it becomes very clear, with what full conviction Pilate 

1 Matth, xxiii. 24. 2 1 Tim. vi. 13. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 403 

might consider the kingship of this accused person as 
something that never could prejudice the Roman autho- 
rity. All that he sees now (as he oscillates between his 
fears and his raillery) in this title of King of the Jews, is 
a means of humbling the Jewish people whom he hates. 
By this same spirit are his soldiers also actuated after- 
wards, in the insults and mockery with which they indulge 
themselves in the Prsetoriuni. It is only in St John that 
Pilate here, on each occasion of his having to address 
himself to the Jews, calls the Divine sufferer by the name 
of your King (xix. 14, 15). It is thus that he finally 
leads on the Jews to purchase, so to speak, the condem- 
nation of their Messiah, by disowning that very royalty 
of Israel itself, and by an involuntary acknowledgment of 
the rights and of the authority of the Roman emperor, 
(v. 15): Pilate saitli unto them, Shall I crucify your 
king \ The chief priests answered, We have no king but 
Caesar. Nor does he relinquish his purpose of crucifying 
Jesus, only under his title of King of the Jews, to the 
great scandal of the chief priests, who, though eager to 
see him crucified for sedition and blasphemy, by no means 
desired that it should be with the title of their hing. On 
the contrary, he persists in it, and proceeds to prescribe 
a superscription to that effect, which was to be written 
over the cross (xix. 19), and to which we shall ere long 
return. 

We further find noted only by St John, certain other 
declarations of great importance which were made by 
Jesus before Pilate (v. 37); for instance, his declaration 
concerning the truth, on which occasion (v. 38) Pilate 
makes his characteristic answer, What is truth f 

The declaration of the Jews also (v. 7), We have a 
' laiv, and by our law he ought to die, because he made 



404 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

himself the Son of God, is of importance at this place for 
the understanding of what is implied in the expression 
Son of God. Be it observed that, for pretending to the 
Messiahship, the law of the Jews did not ordain any kind 
of capital punishment. Here, too, accordingly, they under- 
stood the expression — the Son of God (in the sense in 
which Jesus had declared himself to be such), as tanta- 
mount to what they themselves had said in other parts of 
this Gospel, to wit (v. 18), that he had said also that God 
was his Father, making himself equal with God, nay 

(x. 33), MADE HIMSELF GOD. 

It is chiefly, however, as we have said, with respect to 
the scourging and other outrages done to Jesus in the 
Prsetorium, that the Gospel of St John throws the greatest 
light on the subject. The scourging mentioned cursorily 
by St Matthew and St Mark, elucidated in St Luke by 
a single word concerning its nature and the governor's 
object in inflicting it, becomes still more clearly intel- 
ligible in St John, by means of that connexion which it 
had with the last of the parleys betwixt Pilate and the 
Jews, and of which the fourth Gospel alone informs 
us. 

We have already had sufficient intimations of Pilate's 
inclination and purpose. He wished to rid himself of 
the matter altogether — to avoid embittering the Jews 
against him, and nevertheless to humble them so far 
as he could — to save Jesus if possible — that Jesus of 
whose innocence he was convinced, and for whose person 
he felt at once the contempt of pagan infidelity and pride, 
and an involuntary respect : such was his object through- 
out the whole proceeding, and such the motives at the 
same time that led him to employ, instead of the simple 
and upright method of absolving and dismissing our Lord, 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 405 

every sort of artifice, and means that were partly cruel, 
partly ignoble. Such also were the motives which made 
him desirous from the very first (John, ver. 31) to abandon 
the matter entirely to the Jews ; but, seeing that it in- 
volved a criminal charge, mixed up with the question 
whether a capital sentence should or should not follow, and 
that at that time, under the Roman domination, the Jews 
were not allowed to pronounce sentence of death, he had 
no choice, but was compelled to take cognisance of the case. 
When, however, his simply declaring that he had found 
no fault in the accused had availed him nothing, he seized 
the opportunity suggested to him by a word which had 
escaped from one of the accusers, to send him to Herod, 
for the purpose of collecting information and the evidence 
of witnesses. He then makes use of the scoffing yet 
favourable evidence thus obtained, in proposing a middle 
course — that of first subjecting the accused to corporal 
punishment, and then setting him at liberty. Neverthe- 
less, previous to such proceeding, the shouts of the 
people demanding the release of a prisoner suggest 
another idea to him — that of offering to release Jesus on 
the feast. But this subterfuge likewise serves him not ; 
the chief priests urge on the people to demand Barabbas. 
Meanwhile the governor returns to his former plan (Luke 
v. 22). Jesus consequently is scourged in the Prsetoriuni. 
Now, St John makes us see still more clearly how this 
scourging made no part of the capital punishment, but, 
on the contrary, had for its object the avoidance of the 
crucifixion. Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him 
(xix. 1) — that is, ordered Jesus to be seized, and ordered 
him to be scourged by his soldiers. In strict connexion 
with this outrage are those mockings of the soldiers which 
St Matthew and St Mark had already mentioned very 



406 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

fully, and to which St John adds nothing but the act of 
smiting him with their hands (v. 3). 

But what, in particular, as we said, is made clear to us by 
St John, is the use which the governor makes of that out- 
rage, in order to propitiate the people in favour of Jesus, 
and to save him from undergoing the punishment of the 
cross. He knew that the chief priests had delivered him 
for envy. 1 He therefore addresses himself to the people, 
presents Jesus to them under the deepest humiliation, 
cruelly outraged, with the crown of thorns upon his head, 
and arrayed in the purple robe ; all the while, nevertheless, 
repeating his protestation : I find no fault in him, and 
adding those striking words : Behold the man (v. 4, 
5). But the chief priests, with the officers, proceed to 
undo this impression by dint of violent outcries. The 
governor, on his side, persists in declaring the innocence 
of Jesus (v. 6). But, behold, a few words uttered by the 
Jews (that is to say, as St John always has it, by the 
chiefs of the Jews) suggest to Pilate a new ground of 
alarm (v. 7, 8) : he made himself 'the Son of God. This 
leads to a new question being put to Jesus (v. 9): Whence 
(from what origin, of what nature) art thou f with what 
follows (v. 10 and 11). And now he has almost made 
up his mind to release him (v. 1 2) ; but the Jews again 
inspire him with fresh apprehensions by saying (v. 12) : 
If thou let this man go, thou art not Cwsars friend. 
Pilate places himself on the judgment-seat 2 (v. 13), there 
to pronounce the final sentence. Once more he addresses 

1 St Matthew (v. 18) had already informed us of this. But what he says 
in general, for envy they had delivered Mm, St Mark (v. 1 0) explains by ex- 
pressly saying that the envy was that of the chief priests. 

2 The Lithostrotos, in Hebrew Gabbatha, was a kind of mosaic flooring 
(pavimentum tessellatuni) on which the Roman magistrates, in the conquered 
provinces, took their seat on solemn occasions. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 407 

the Jews in these words (v. 14) : Behold your King I to 
which, when uttered by him, no meaning can be attached 
but this : If I deliver him to be crucified, it shall only be 
under the title and in the quality of King of the Jews ; 
the reply to which, on the part of the chief priests, 
involves an absolute disavowal of all expectation of a 
Messiah : We have no king but Ccesar (v. 15). After- 
wards, when Pilate actually places this title on the 
superscription over the cross (v. 19-22), he tortures these 
same chief priests by his answer to their complaint : Wliat 
I have written, I have written. And now Pilate delivers 
him to be crucified ! The precise moment when the 
solemn sentence to that effect went forth from Gabbatha, 
is recorded by St John alone (v. 14). It was the pre- 
paration of the passover, and about the sixth hour ; to 
wit, as we shall see ere long, six hours before the com- 
mencement of that Sabbath's preparation ; that is, about 
nine o'clock in the morning. 

After this St John attaches himself anew to the synop- 
tical Gospels. Like them he records for us how Jesus 
was led away (v. 16), and it is then that the details of 
our Lord's sufferings on the cross commence. 

But before entering upon these, let us once more give 
a cursory glance at the section of which we have been 
treating, and the details of which succeed each other as 
follows : — 1. The chief priests lead Jesus away to Pilate 
(according to all the Evangelists). It was early in the 
morning (according to St John). 2. Pilate presents him- 
self to the Jews, and desires (in vain) to leave the trial 
in their hands (according to St John). 3. The chief 
priests begin to accuse Jesus of sedition (according to St 
Luke). 4. On Pilate's questioning him, Jesus declares 
himself to be a king (according to all the Evangelists) ; 



408 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

nevertheless, not without having previously, 5, given a very 
precise meaning to the kingship which he claimed (accord- 
ing to St John). 6. Pilate declares that he finds no fault 
in him (according to St Luke and St John). 7. The chief 
priests insist. The governor, in consequence of some 
words that escape from them, sends him to Herod 
(according to St Luke). 8. Herod, too, finds him equally 
guiltless, but sends him back to Pilate, deriding him, and 
after having put upon him a white robe, (according to St 
Luke). 9. Pilate would fain release him after having 
chastised him (ibid). 10. The multitude begin to insist 
that, according to custom at the feast, Pilate should release 
a prisoner unto them (according to St Mark). 11. Pilate 
proposes that Jesus should be the person (according to 
all the Evangelists). 12. Meanwhile Pilate is called aside 
and warned by his wife (according to St Matthew). The 
chief priests avail themselves of this pause, in order to 
stimulate the multitude, 13, to call for the release of 
Barabbas (according to all the Evangelists). 14. The 
governor falls back on his former proposal (according to 
St Luke). 15. He causes Jesus to be scourged in the 
Prsetorium (according to St Matthew, St Mark, and St 
John). To this the soldiers add' all manner of cruel 
mockings (according to the same Evangelists). 16. Pilate 
causes Jesus to come out with a crown of thorns, and 
the robe put upon him in derision (according to St John). 
1 7. The chief priests call anew for the crucifixion of Jesus 
(according to all the Evangelists). 18. They throw the 
governor into fresh embarrassment by pronouncing the 
name : Son of God (according to St John). 19. Fresh 
interchange of words between the governor and Jesus 
(according to St John) ; and after that, 20. between the 
governor and the Jews (ibid). 21. It is about nine o'clock 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



409 



in the morning. Pilate places himself on the seat of 
judgment (ibid). 22. He calls Jesus the King of the Jews 
(ibid). 23. The Jews declare that they have no king 
but Caesar (ibid). 24. Pilate washes his hands before the 
multitude, and declares that he is innocent of the blood 
of this just person (according to St Matthew). 25. The 
people exclaim : His blood be on us and on our children 
(ibid). 26. Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified (according 
to all the Evangelists). 27. That same day Judas also 
testifies that he had betrayed innocent blood, and hangs 
hinfself (according to St Matthew). 

THE CRUCIFIXION. 



Matth. xxvii. 32-56. 

32. And as they came out, they 
found a man of Cyrene, Simon by 
name : him they compelled to bear 
his cross. 

33. And when they were come 
unto a place called Golgotha, that 
is to say, A place of a skull, 34. 
They gave him vinegar to drink 
mingled with gall : and when he 
had tasted thereof, he would not 
drink. 

35. And they crucified him, and 
parted his garments, casting lots : 
that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by the prophet, They part- 
ed my garments among them, and 
upon my vesture did they cast lots. 
36. And, sitting down, they watched 
him there ; 37. And set up over his 
head his accusation written, This 
is Jesus the King of the Jews. 

38. Then were there two thieves 
crucified with him ; one on the 
right hand, and another on the left, 



Maek xv. 21-41. 

21. And they compel one Simon 
a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming 
out of the country, the father of 
Alexander and Rufus, to bear his 
cross. 

22. And they bring him unto the 
place Golgotha, which is, being in- 
terpreted, The place of a skull. 
23. And they gave him to drink 
wine mingled with myrrh: but he 
received it not. 

24. And when they had crucified 
him, they parted his garments, 
casting lots upon them, what every 
man should take. 

25. And it was the third hour ; 
and they crucified him. 

26. And the superscription of 
his accusation was written over, 
The King of the Jews. 

27. And with him they crucify 
two thieves; the one on his right 
hand, and the other on his left, 
28. And the scripture was fulfilled, 
which saith, And he was numbered 
with the transgressors, 



410 



THE FOUli WITNESSES. 



39. And they that passed by 
reviled him, wagging their heads, 
•10. And saying, Thou that de- 
stroyest the temple, and buildest it 
in three days, save thyself. If thou 
be the Son of God, come down from 
the cross. 41. Likewise also the 
chief priests, mocking him, with 
the scribes and elders, said, 42. 
He saved others ; himself he can- 
not save. If he be the King of 
Israel, let him now come down 
from the cross, and we will believe 
him. 43. He trusted in God; let 
him deliver him now, if he will 
have him : for he said, I am the 
Son of God. 

44. The thieves also, which were 
crucified with him, cast the same in 
his teeth. 

45. Now from the sixth hour 
there was darkness over all the 
land unto the ninth hour. 

46. And about the ninth hour 
Jesus cried with a loud voice, say- 
ing, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that 
is to say, My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me? 47. Some 
of them that stood there, when they 
heard that, said, This man calleth 
for Elias. 48. And straightway one 
of them ran, and took a spunge, 
and filled it with vinegar, and put 
it on a reed, and gave him to 
drink. 49. The rest said, Let be, 
let us see whether Elias will come 
to save him. 

50. Jesus, when he had cried 
again with a loud voice, yielded up 
the ghost. 51. And, behold, the 
vail of the temple was rent in 
twain from the top to the bottom ; 
and the earth did quake, and the 
rocks rent ; 52. And the graves 
were opened ; and many bodies of 
the saints which slept arose, 53. 
And came out of the graves after 



29. And they that passed by 
railed on him, wagging their heads, 
and saying, Ah, thou thatdestroyest 
the temple, and buildest it in three 
days, 30. Save thyself, and come 
down from the cross. 31. Like- 
wise also the chief priests, mock- 
ing, said among themselves, with 
the scribes, He saved others ; him- 
self he cannot save. 32. Let 
Christ the King of Israel descend 
now from the cross, that we may 
see and believe. 



And they that were crucified 
with him reviled him. 

33. And when the sixth hour 
was come, there was darkness over 
the whole land until the ninth hour. 

34. And at the ninth hour Jesus 
cried with a loud voice, saying, 
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which 
is, being interpreted, My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me ? 
35. And some of them that stood 
by, when they heard it, said, Be- 
hold, he calleth Elias. 36. And 
one ran and filled a spimge full 
of vinegar, and put it on a reed, 
and gave him to drink, saying, Let 
alone ; let us see whether Elias 
will come to take him down. 

37. And Jesus cried with a loud 
voice, and gave up the ghost. 38. 
And the vail of the temple was 
rent in twain from the top to the 
bottom. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



411 



his resurrection, and went into the 
holy city, and appeared unto many. 

54. Now, when the centurion, 
and they that were with him 
watching Jesus, saw the earth- 
quake, and those things that were 
done, they feared greatly, saying, 
Truly this was the Son of God. 

55. And many women were there 
beholding afar off, which followed 
Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto 
him ; 56. Among which was Mary 
Magdalene, and Mary the mother 
of James and Joses, and the mother 
of Zebedee's children. 



39. And when the centurion, 
which stood over against him, saw 
that he so cried out, and gave up 
the ghost, he said, Truly this man 
was the son of God. 

40. There w T ere also women look- 
ing on afar off: among whom was 
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
mother of James the less and of 
Joses, and Salome; 41. (Who also, 
when he was in Galilee, followed 
him, and ministered unto him ;) 
and many other women which came 
up with him unto Jerusalem. 



Luke, xxiii. 26-49. 
26. And as they led him away, 
they laid hold upon one Simon, a 
Cyrenian, coming out of the country, 
and on him they laid the cross, that 
he might bear it after Jesus. 27. 
And there followed him a great 
company of people, and of women, 
which also bewailed and lamented 
him. 28. But Jesus, turning unto 
them, said, Daughters of Jerusa- 
lem, weep not for me, but weep for 
yourselves, and for your children. 
29. For, behold, the days are coming, 
in the which they shall say, Blessed 
are the barren, and the wombs that 
never bare, and the paps which never 
gave suck. 30. Then shall they 
begin to say to the mountains, Fall 
on us ; and to the hills, Cover us. 
3 1 . For if they do these things in 
a green tree, what shall be done in 
a dry ? 

32. And there were also two 
others, malefactors, led with him to 
be put to death. 

33. And when they were come 
to the place which is called Cal- 
vary, there they crucified him, and 



Joh>-, xix. 17-35. 
17. And he, bearing his cross, 



went forth into a place called the 
place of a skull, which is called in 
the Hebrew, Golgotha; 18. "Where 
they crucified him, and two other 
with him, on either side one, and 
Jesus in the midst. 



412 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



the malefactors; one on the right 
hand, and the other on the left. 

34. Then said Jesus, Father, for- 
give them 5 for they know not what 
they do. And they parted his rai- 
ment, and cast lots. 35. And the 
people stood beholding: and the 
rulers also with them derided him, 
saying, He saved others; let him 
save himself, if he be Christ, the 
chosen of God. 36. And the sol- 
diers also mocked him, coming to 
him, and offering him vinegar, 37. 
And saying, If thou be the King of 
the Jews, save thyself. 

38. And a superscription also 
was written over him in letters of 
Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, 
This is the King or the Jews. 



39. And one of the malefactors 
which were hanged railed on him, 
saying, If thou be Christ, save thy- 
self and us. 40. But the other an- 
swering, rebuked him, saying, Dost 
not thou fear God, seeing thou art 
in the same condemnation? 41. 
And we indeed justly ; for we re- 
ceive the due reward of our deeds : 
but this man hath done nothing 
amiss. 42. And he said unto Jesus, 
Lord, remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom. 43. And 
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say 
unto thee, To-day shalt thou be 
with me in paradise. 



19. And Pilate wrote a title, and 
put it on the cross. And the writ- 
ing was, Jesus of Nazaketh, the 
King of the Jews. 20. This title 
then read many of the Jews : for 
the place where Jesus was cruci- 
fied was nigh unto the city : and it 
was written in Hebrew, and Greek, 
and Latin. 21. Then said the chief 
priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write 
not, The King of the Jews ; but 
that he said, I am the King of the 
Jews. 22. Pilate answered, What 
I have written I have written. 23. 
Then the soldiers, when they had 
crucified Jesus, took his garments, 
and made four parts, to every sol- 
dier a part ; and also his coat : 
now the coat was without seam, 
woven from the top throughout. 
24. They said therefore among 
themselves, Let us not rend it, but 
cast lots for it, whose it shall be : 
that the scripture might be fulfilled, 
which saith, They parted my rai- 
ment among them, and for my 
vesture they did cast lots. These 
things therefore the soldiers did. 



25. Now there stood oy the cross 
of Jesus his mother, and his mo- 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD S PASSION. 



413 



44. And it was about the sixth 
hour, and there was darkness 
over all the earth until the ninth 
hour. 



45. And the sun was darkened, 
and the vail of the temple was rent 
in the midst. 46. And when Jesus 
had cried with a loud voice, he 
said, Father, into thy hands I com- 
mend my spirit : and having said 
thus, he gave up the ghost. 

47. Now when the centurion 
saw what was done, he glorified 
God, saying, Certainly this was a 
righteous man. 48. And all the 
people that came together to that 
sight, beholding the things which 
were done, smote their breasts, and 
returned. 49. And all his ac- 
quaintance, and the women that 
folloAved him from Galilee, stood 
afar off, beholding these things. 



ther's sister, Mary the wife of Cleo- 
phas, and Mary Magdalene. 26. 
TThen Jesus therefore saw his mo- 
ther, and the disciple standing by 
whom he loved, he saith unto his 
mother, "Woman, behold thy son ! 
27. Then saith he to the disciple, 
Behold thy mother ! And from that 
hour that disciple took her unto his 
own home. 



28. After this, Jesus knowing 
that all things were now accom- 
plished, that the scripture might be 
fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29. Now 
there was set a vessel full of vine- 
gar: and they filled a spunge with 
vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, 
and put it to his mouth. 30. When 
Jesus therefore had received the 
vinegar, he said, It is finished : 



And he bowed his head, aud gave 
up the ghost. 



31. The Jews therefore, because 
it was the preparation, that the 
bodies should not remain upon the 
cross on the sabbath-day, (for that 
sabbath- day was an high day,) be- 
sought Pilate that their legs might 
be broken, and that they might be 
taken away. 32. Then came the 
soldiers, and brake the legs of the 



414 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

first, and of the other which was 
crucified with him. 33. But when 
they came to Jesus, and saw that 
he was dead already, they brake 
not his legs : 34. But one of the 
soldiers with a spear pierced his 
side, and forthwith came thereout 
blood and water. 35. And he that 
saw it bare record, and his record 
is true ; and he knoweth that he 
saith true, that ye might believe. 
36. For these things were done, 
that the scripture should be ful- 
filled, A bone of him shall not be 
broken. 37. And again another 
scripture saith, They shall look on 
him whom they pierced. 

I. Jesus is led towards Golgotha. St Matthew gives 
the outline only (v. 32) : They found a man of Cyrene, 
Simon by name : him they compelled 1 to bear his cross. 
St Mark (v. 21) adds to this a word which seems to put 
the living scene before jour eyes : a man (Gr. irapayovra) 
who was passing by (that very place) ; and then, a par- 
ticular circumstance which St Luke (v. 20) adopts from 
him : coming out of the country ; finally, another also, 
which is mentioned by none but St Mark, and bears upon 
the person of this Cyrenian : he was the father of Alex- 
ander and Rufus, men in Mark's time well known in the 
Church, and particularly in that of Rome. 2 

We are not, however, so to understand the matter, as 
if the cross were taken off our Lord's shoulders and trans- 
ferred to those of this Simon ; much less, as we see it 
sometimes represented in Bible prints and pictures — as 
if the men who were leading away Jesus, on seeing him 
sink under the weight, had therefore thought of laying it 

1 The Greek word dyyapeveiv means literally to press into the service. 

2 Rom. xvi. 13. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 415 

on Simon as he was passing by. The improbability of 
this will be perceived at once, by attending to the cir- 
cumstance, that among the Romans the cross was ordi- 
narily fastened to the shoulders of the condemned person, 
and could not, accordingly, have been first unloosed 
by the soldiers, as this supposition requires. No ! the 
Saviour's cross was taken off his shoulders by no one. 
But the soldiers must in irony have compelled Simon, 
who, in passing, had expressed his compassion for the 
adorable sufferer, to lift 1 the cross, and (as St Luke 
expresses it) to bear it after him (v. 26). Thus, Simon 
presents us here with an image of the true disciple of our 
Lord, sharing in his cross and in his ignominy ; or, as St 
Paul expresses it, filling up that which is behind of the 
afflictions of Christ! 1 

In perfect accordance with this we find the expressive 
statement of St John (v. 1 7) : Jesus, bearing with pain 
(paaTci&v) his cross, went forth, &c. 

II. Jesus addresses the multitude, and in particular 
the women, on going to the place called Golgotha. This 
passage has been preserved for us by St Luke alone 
(v. 27-31), and is a further characteristic of that Gospel, 
which makes particular mention of the participation of 
women in the Evangelical history. 3 That particularity 
harmonizes again with the character of our third Gospel, 
in so much as it is a prediction of the approaching fate 
of Jerusalem, 4 ' and an utterance of compassion on the 
part of that Saviour who is faithful unto the end. 5 

1 Gr. A'lpeiv, which we must be careful to distinguish here from (3a<TTa£eiv, 
painfully to carry, in St John, v. 17. 

2 Ta v are pi] par a rcov ffkiyjfecov XptcrroO. Col. i. 24. 

3 See p. 189. * See p. 182. 5 See p. 185, and following pages. 



416 THE POUR WITNESSES. 

III. The crucifixion is preceded in St Matthew (v. 34), 
and in St Mark (v. 23), with the offer of the mingled 
■wine, with which it was customary to deaden the sense of 
pain in those who underwent capital punishment. It is 
precisely on that account that Jesus refused the stupify- 
ing drink ; yet he tastes it, and thus there is accom- 
plished in him the words of the psalm (lxix. 21), accord- 
ing to which he was to have given to him gall and vinegar 
for his meat and drink. St Matthew, with his eye fixed 
on the prophecy, mentions wine made bitter with myrrh, 
vinegak with gall, according to the taste. St Mark 
gives the proper name, which indicates the true composi- 
tion. 1 

IV. St Luke and St John do not repeat this circum- 
stance ; on the other hand, they expressly mention the 
very act of the crucifixion of our Lord simultaneously 
with that of the two malefactors, the one on the right 
hand, and the other on the left (Luke, v. 33), which 
St John records simply, but in still more striking terms 
(v. 18) thus : on either side one, and Jesus in the 
midst. 

We have immediately following this, in St Luke, the 
first saying uttered on the cross ; the Saviour s charitable 
intercession for his enemies and murderers (v. 34) : 
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. 
St Matthew (v. 35), and St Mark (v. 24), give the 
moment of the crucifixion of Jesus only in passing, and 
mention afterwards (Matth. v. 38, and Mark, v. 27) the 

1 One may observe, moreover, with Grotius, that among the ancients vinegar 
(ogos) was sometimes called wine (olvos). The difference between St Matthew 
and St Mark lies, therefore, solely in the manner in which they express myrrh, 
the one, like the propheey^-according to the taste of the drink, the other literally. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 417 

crucifixion of the malefactors with Jesus, subsequent to 
which, we have in St Mark (v. 28) a quotation from 
Isaiah. 1 

V. St Mark is the only one that records the precise 
hour of the crucifixion (v. 25) : the third hour, that is to 
say, about nine o'clock in the morning. But how are we 
to make this agree with the passage in St John (xix. 14), 
where it is stated that it was the preparation, and about 
the sixth hour, which brings it to about noon, when Pilate 
placed himself on the judgment-seat ? Many attempts 
have been made to do away with this difference, and 
among these we find even critical conjectures that have 
no authority whatever from the manuscripts. The matter 
may be fully cleared up without the smallest change in 
the text, according to the principles which we have already 
indicated with regard to the Gospel of St John, provided 
we but rightly apprehend what the last Evangelist means 
here by the Preparation. This word is generally under- 
stood to mean the ivhole day, the whole of Friday pre- 
ceding the Sabbath. But St Mark's Gospel gives us quite 
a different explanation of the expression (Mark xv. 42): 
it was the preparation, that is (not as the authorized 
version renders the word : the day before the Sabbath, 
but) the fore- Sabbath {irpoadp^arov). What we are to 
understand by this before-the-Sabbalh, is very clear, from 
the nature of the language and of the thing itself: it 
was not the ivhole preceding clay, but that part of 
the Friday which forms the transition from that day 
to the Sabbath, which is known to begin among the 

1 This verse, however, is not to be found in several of the best manuscripts, and 
lias perhaps been transferred to this place from St Luke xxii. 37. Moreover, this 
manner of quoting Scripture : And the Scripture was fulfilled, is not properly 
St Mark's, but rather St John's. 

2 D 



418 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Jews on Friday evening. 1 What we have, therefore, to 
determine is, when properly this fore-Sabhath or pre- 
paration (in other words, that part of Friday on which 
people prepared themselves for the day of repose among 
the Jews, by suspending the occupations of the week) 
commenced. And this, too, is rendered very clear to us 
by the testimony of antiquity. We find, for example, in 
Josephus, an ordinance of the Emperor Augustus, which 
exempts the Jews in the Roman empire from the necessity 
of appearing in law courts on receiving a summons to that 
effect, not only on the Sabbath day, but also during the time 
of the preparation before that day, from the ninth hour, 
that is, from three o'clock in the afternoon (of Friday). 2 

Now, then, if we have a just idea of that preparation 
spoken of by St John (xix. 14), but one more recollec- 
tion becomes necessary in order to our arriving at a satis- 
factory agreement between that passage and what is 
said by St Mark. We have seen among the peculiar 
characteristics of the fourth of the Gospels, this further 
particularity, that St John is accustomed, when he comes 
-to speak of the last days passed by Jesus on earth, 
to count bachvards from the last feast of the passover. 3 
Such, likewise, is his reckoning here. The words : it was 
the preparation of the passover (that is to say, the Sab- 
bath of the passover, as appears here throughout, from the 
connexion of the whole), 4 and about the sixth hour, we 
must understand as simply implying: it was about the 
sixth hour before (the commencement) of the prepara- 

1 A celebrated Dutch interpreter remarks on Mark xv. 42 : "It was the holy- 
eve, or twilight which precedes the great Sabbath, between three and six o'clock 
in the afternoon." 

2 Antiq. Jnd. Lib. xvi. c. 10. 'Ei> o-a/3 'ftao-iv kcll rrj npb ravTrjs TvapaaKevfj, 
u.7r6 copas €wdrr]9, that is to say, of the preceding day. 

3 See p. 264. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 419 

Hon, which corresponds exactly with our nine o'clock in 
the morning, precisely the time mentioned in set terms 
by St Mark. To wit, when Pilate took his place on 
the seat of judgment, it was about (say half an hour 
more or less before) nine o'clock in the morning, 
or six hours before the preparation, ivhich is the fore- 
Sabbath; so that, supposing we take a full half hour 
for all that passed betwixt the condemnation of Jesus 
and his crucifixion, the reckoning will be in every way 
correct : at nine o'clock in the morning the crucifixion 
took place, equally according to St John, as according to 
the formal statement of St Mark. 

VI. After the crucifixion comes the mention of the 
superscription placed above the cross, in conformity with 
the custom among the Romans, of intimating in that 
manner the crime or the accusation brought against the 
sufferer. 1 Yet the tenor of that superscription, recorded 
as it is by all the Evangelists, is not in any two of them 
the same ; but these differences are clearly to be referred 
to the three different languages that were employed, the 
same superscription having been composed in these, with 
some slight variation of expression, and each of the 
Evangelists having given it according to the language 
and the form most accordant with his own plan or style. 
In St Luke, it is probably the Latin superscription which 
we have presented to us : This is the King of the Jeius ; 2 
in St Mark it is the Hebrew : The King of the Jews ; 3 
St John gives it to us in the fullest form, which is the 
Greek : Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews* St 

1 St John gives the proper term : tltXos (v. 19). 

2 Hie est Rex Jud^orum. 

3 t^TvT'n nWr 

4 'Irjcrovs 6 Nu^copaTos' 6 ftacrtXevs toov 'lovSaicov. 



420 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

Matthew gives us a kind of combination : This is Jesus, 
the King of the Jews. 

It is first St Luke, and afterwards St John, who makes 
express mention of the three languages, but in a different 
order. That followed by St Luke, we may perceive at 
once, from the nature of the thing, to be the historical. 
Over the cross, the Latin, as being the language of the 
dominant power, was naturally placed in the middle, the 
Greek above, and the Hebrew below. St John changes 
this order by naming the three tongues according to their 
antiquity and dignity : Hebrew, Greek, Latin (ePpaZari, 

iWrjvMTTi, pcojuLaiartj. 

But here St John is distinguished by other particularities 
also. He remarks, that many of the Jews read what was 
written, inasmuch as the place where the crucifixion took 
place was nigh to the city (not in the city). 1 But it is 
chiefly in his Gospel that we again meet with the rank- 
ling and suppressed dislike entertained by the gover- 
nor towards the Jews, to whom, as we have seen, he did 
not wish to deliver Jesus except under the designation 
of King of the Jews. Accordingly, it is in harmony like- 
wise with this settled purpose, that he causes these words 
to be placed over the cross, with the view of at once 
humbling and disappointing the Jews, the Jewish royalty 
being set forth in them as of itself a crime. To this, 
consequently, the chief priests also are opposed. They 
insist that the crime of the condemned person is not that 
he was the King of the Jews, but that he had said that 
he was the King of the Jews (v. 21) : little in consistency 
with themselves, seeing that in the bitterness of their 
hatred, they had quite disowned that royalty (the ex- 
pectation of a Messiah)! And now, too, they complain 

1 Heb. xili. 11-13. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 421 

in vain. In words at once highly significant, and at 
the same time one may say prophetical, the governor 
dismisses them (v. 22) : What I have written, I have 
tvritten. 

VII. We next come to the parting of the Divine 
Sufferer's garments among the soldiers — a well-known 
custom among the Romans, and which was at the same 
time the fulfilment of the prophecy of the Psalm (xxii. 18). 
All four Evangelists mention the parting of his raiment, 
as well as the casting of lots ; St Matthew and St John 
quote the very words of the Psalm : They parted my 
garments among them, and upon my vesture did they 
cast lots ; but St Matthew only in general terms 
(v. 35), whereas St John (v. 23 and 24), concerning the 
casting of lots, adds one of those equally deep and delicate 
and unlooked-for details with which his Gospel abounds : 
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his 
garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part-, 
and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, ivoven 
from the top throughout. They said therefore among 
themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it 
shall be: That the Scripture might be fulfilled ivhich saith, 
They parted my raiment among them, and on my vesture 
they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did 
(quite unconscious of what they were doing, and of what 
they were fulfilling). 

VIII. The mockings. The synoptical Gospels, and 
especially St Matthew and St Mark, record with many 
details the mockings and the blasphemies of which the 
crucified Saviour was made the object on the part of vari- 
ous descriptions of men, — the populace — the chief priests 



422 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

and the Pharisees — the soldiers — and the malefactors who 
were crucified with Jesus. Here St Matthew is anew 
remarkable for copiousness of expression, but particularly 
for his characteristic reference to the foretelling of those 
insulting expressions in Ps. xxii. (v. 9), the very words 
of which he puts into the mouths of the calumniators of 
our Lord, not that these were literally the same that 
were used, but as a striking indication how their in- 
sulting language was precisely the accomplishment of a 
prophecy written so many ages before by the Psalmist. 
Here the appellation Son of God occurs more than 
once, while it is not to be found in St Mark (v. 32) or 
in St Luke (v. 35). 

St Mark here again compresses and abridges the nar- 
rative. There is great force, on the other hand, in his 
addition of Ah! (v. 29) 1 as an exclamation of triumph 
on the part of the multitude, who, both in St Matthew 
and in St Mark, address themselves directly to the cruci- 
fied Sufferer, and cast in his teeth the words that had 
been attributed to him with respect to the temple ; while 
the chief priests and the Pharisees, as St Mark in set 
terms observes (v. 31), speaking among themselves, and 
without addressing the crucified Saviour personally, give 
utterance to their derision : He saved others, &c. There 
is force also in his Gospel in the intercalation of those 
words, expressive of incredulity : Let us see (v. 32) : Let 
him descend now from the cross that we may see, and 
that we may believe. 

St Luke has expressed still more succinctly the 
mockings both of the populace and their chiefs (v. 35), 
and having mentioned these, follows them up immediately 
with the insolent language of the soldiers, in connexion 

1 Gr. 'Ova, Lat. Yah ! 



THE NARRATIVES OP OUR LORD'S PASSION. 423 

with which he introduces the presenting of vinegar to the 
Sufferer ; while in the other three Gospels this seems as if 
done only at the last moment of the passion on the cross. 

IX. But if St Luke is extremely concise with respect 
to the mockery of the soldiers and of the bystanders in 
general ; as if to compensate for this, he alone has pre- 
served for us the sublime incident of the converted male- 
factor, which we read of in v. 39-43. That particular 
circumstance evidently belongs to the peculiar field of this 
Evangelist, to whom the glorification of Jesus Christ, as a 
compassionate Saviour even for the most deeply wretched, 
was specially intrusted. 1 That, moreover, the converted 
malefactor is formally distinguished here from the criminal 
who was crucified along with him, and w r ho, even in his 
dreadful position, could join in the insults offered to the 
Blessed One, is again, in conformity with the nature of 
this Gospel, a necessary elucidation of what is said in a 
general way by St Matthew (v. 44) and St Mark (v. 32) : 
The thieves also, they that were crucified with him (in the 
plural) reviled him. Those who, in contradiction to the 
true spirit of the evangelical harmony, would fain 
explain St Luke in this passage by means of his two 
predecessors, and who therefore entertain the idea of 
blasphemies being uttered by both thieves, one of whom 
was suddenly converted and addressed himself to our 
Lord, do not consider that it is quite opposed to the 
nature of such a conversion, to imagine a penitent 
whose first act as a believer could have been sharply 
to reprimand a sinner like himself for doing what he 
himself had done only a few moments before ! But 
now it is manifest, from the true principles of evan- 

1 See page 186 and following pages. 



424 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

gelical harmony, that St Matthew's plural is here the 
general indication of the sort of men who insulted 
Jesus in his final extremity of suffering. St Mark, ac- 
cording to his usual practice in like cases, here follows St 
Matthew, though with some slight modifications. To St 
Luke it was reserved to state the striking difference be- 
tween the two who were crucified with Jesus, and at the 
same time to preserve for us the second of the sayings 
uttered by Jesus on the cross ; that addressed to the 
thief (v. 43) : Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou 
be ivith me in paradise. Before the evening had come 
on, and ere the Sabbath had commenced, Jesus had en- 
tered on his rest, and the converted thief was with him. 

X. The Saviour's sufferings on the cross, which lasted 
six hours (from nine o'clock in the morning until three in 
the afternoon), are divided by all the Synoptics into two 
equal parts, very distinctly defined. The darkness that 
came on about the sixth hour — that is to say, at noon — 
forms the point of transition from the one to the other 
part. But it may easily be conceived that before the 
coming on of that terrible and most significant darkness, 
that most affecting incident must have occurred, which 
has been preserved to us by St John, and which likewise 
falls so completely within the scope and spirit of that 
Gospel of our Lord's deepest love. Jesus, who loveth his 
own unto the end, commits his mother to St John, and 
delivers his disciple to his mother as from thenceforth 
her son (v. 25-27) ; this being the third saying uttered 
on the cross : Woman, behold thy son ! and to the dis- 
ciple : Behold thy mother ! 

XL With the darkening of the heavens at noon, there 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 425 

opens a new part of our Lord's sufferings on the cross, 
and these now reach their last and direst extremity. For 
three hours forward from that awful moment, not a whis- 
per of derision is heard all around the cross. All is 
hushed into absolute silence. Jesus is silent : the suffer- 
ings he endured at the hands of men now give place to 
more painful inward sufferings. The darkening of the 
heavens accompanies and expresses the dreadful darkness 
that prevails in the soul itself of the suffering Saviour, 
and is manifested by the exclamation : My God, my God, 
ivhy hast thou forsaken me? 1 — the fourth of our Lord's 
sayings on the cross. 

All the three Synoptics describe the darkening of the 
sun almost in the same terms. St Matthew and St 
Mark alone give the Saviour's complaint in the proper 
Hebrew terms of the Psalm (xxii. 2) in which it was 
expressed prophetically many ages before. Only St Mark 
has (instead of the Hebrew word Eli, employed by St 
Matthew) the Syriac word Eloi, as it was no doubt pro- 
nounced by Jesus himself. 2 

XII. Anew after the utterance of that exclamation, we 
have the mockings and the insults on the part of the sol- 
diers who stood on guard around the cross. St Matthew 
(v. 47) and St Mark (v. 35) relate how the cry of Eli, or 
Eloi, suggested the shameful parody of the Saviour's 
agonizing exclamation, This man callethfor Elias. There- 
after both Evangelists mention how one of the soldiers, 
putting a spunge dipped in vinegar on the end of a reed 
(or bunch of hyssop), presented it to the Sufferer to 

1 Forsake me no longer ! 

2 Olshausen, Bibl. Comment, ii. 472 : " Mark, xv. 34, renders the Aramean 
ext more exactly. For the Heb. 'H\i'=^x he has 'E\<ot=*rb*» n 



426 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

drink (Matth. ver. 48 ; Mark, ver. 36). But now there fol- 
lows an apparent discrepancy betwixt them. According 
to St Matthew (v. 49) the rest (ol Xonroi), on this being 
done, exclaim, Let be, let us see whether Ellas will come 
to save him ; whereas, according to St Mark (y. 36), it is 
the man himself that presents the vinegar, who then utters 
these words in derision. This apparent contradiction 
admits of an easy explanation. St Matthew, by the use 
of his favourite plural, informs us of the complication of 
others in this insult, the common perpetration of insult 
and slander among these men. St Mark, relating what 
took place with a nicer attention to the exact reality of 
what happened, teaches us how even that taunting remark, 
Let us see, &c, was pronounced by the same soldier that 
brought the vinegar to Jesus, whether in this manner to 
conceal a feeling of sympathy under a gross jest, or that 
both deed and words proceeded from a mischievous spirit 
of mockery and insult ; in either way, the others (accord- 
ing to St Matthew) may very well have repeated his 
words. 

St Luke enters into no details with respect to that 
saying : Let us see, &c. ; but evidently makes allusion to 
the circumstance when (v. 36) he speaks of the scoffs of 
the soldiers and of the vinegar offered by them. 

It is St John, finally, who throws the fullest light on 
this presentation of the vinegar, a circumstance which had 
not previously been well explained by any of his prede- 
cessors, and this he does by inserting a particularity of the 
highest importance in the history of our Lord's passion, 
namely, the striking accomplishment anew of a prophecy 
(v. 28) : After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were 
now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fidfilled, 1 

1 Ps. xx. 16 ; lxix. 26 ; on the thirst of Jesus in this Gospel compare p. 241. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 427 

saith, I thirst (the fifth saying on the cross). It was in 
consequence of these words, therefore, that the soldiers, 
or rather one of them, offered the Divine Sufferer on the 
cross a drink from the vessel full of vinegar, which, ac- 
cording to the custom of the Romans, stood near the cross, 

XIII. Jesus yields up the ghost, according to all four 
Evangelists, with a loud cry. St Luke (v. 46) gives the 
very words of that last exclamation : Father, into thy 
hands I commit my spirit (seventh saying on the cross). 
St John further intercalates in a very few words (v. 30) 
three very important particulars. He connects the offer- 
ing of the vinegar with the words uttered immediately 
before, / thirst, — and with what immediately followed, It 
is finished (the sixth saying on the cross) ; — he remarks, 
in harmony with the whole tendency of his Gospel, which 
every where puts in strong relief all that was voluntary 
on the Saviour's part in his passion and death, 1 how Jesus 
first bowed his head and then gave up the ghost (tcXivas- 
t^v KecpaX^v irapeBcoKe ro irvevjia). 

One word more on the distribution of the seven utter- 
ances on the cross among the four Evangelists, before pass- 
ing to the signs that indicated the moment of the Lord's 
death. Seven sentences were uttered by the Saviour on 
the cross. None of the Evangelists has recorded them 
all; each, on the contrary, has reported one or more 
according to their respective bearing on the entire ten- 
dency and whole plan of his writing. St Matthew gives 
the expression of the bitterest agonies of the passion, the 
anguish of our Lord's soul, the pang of being forsaken by 
God, in an exclamation which transports us at once into 

1 John x. 17, 18 ; xiii. 3, &c. 



428 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

the territory of prophecy ; namely, to the first words of 
that prophetic psalm of which one of the Fathers of the 
Church has justly said, that in that psalm is expressed 
the essence of the Saviour's passion. In St Mark we 
find nothing more than the simple repetition of that same 
saying, but with a literal exactness of dialect and pronun- 
ciation. St Luke has further still, besides the words of 
compassion and grace addressed to the penitent malefactor, 
the first and the last of the seven sayings, both commenc- 
ing with the invocation, Father! (v. 34 and 46). 1 Finally, 
St John has recorded that one expression of the tenderest 
love (v. 26, 27) — that of the last accomplishment of the 
prophecies (v. 28) — that of triumph in so far as respects 
the completed work of sacrifice and salvation (v. 29, 30) : 
TereXearac — It is finished ! 

XIV. Now follow the signs and wonders that marked 
the death of the Prince of Life. All three synoptical 
Gospels record that the veil of the temple was rent. St 
Matthew (v. 51) and St Mark (v. 38) describe it more 
fully thus — in twain, from the top to the bottom. St 
Luke (v. 45) has in the midst. Just before, this last 
Evangelist (v. 45) once more mentions the darkening of 
the sun at the moment of the Saviour's death. 

But at this rending of the veil (symbolizing the opening 
of the Holy of holies above through the blood of Jesus), 2 
St Matthew alone adds further (v. 51), that the earth 

1 It is remarkable that the same writer has recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 
(vii. 59, 60) the last words of the first martyr of Jesus (Stephen), who likewise 
commits his spirit into the hands of God, and prays for the forgiveness of sinners. 
But let us mark the difference. The Saviour prays first for transgressors, last 
for himself ; the martyr, first for himself, then for his murderers; — Jesus ad- 
dresses his Father, Stephen calls upon the Lord (expressly Jesus). 

2 Heb. ix. 8 ; x. 19. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 429 

did quake and the rocks rent, besides that circuihstance 
every way so full of prophetic meaning, that the graves 
were opened, and many bodies of the saints arose, and 
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went 
into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 2 

After the testimony of the inanimate creation now fol- 
lows, in the three synoptical Gospels, that of the hearts and 
consciences of men. The centurion who stood on guard 
near the cross, witnessed to the innocence and to the 
greatness of Jesus, according to St Luke, in these terms 
(v. 4 7) : Certainly this teas a righteous man ! an expres- 
sion which, as given by St Matthew (v. 54) and by St 
Mark (v. 39), according to their own conception of the 
matter, runs thus : Truly this ivas the Son of God ! We 
have here, then, anew in St Luke, the historian, the 
proper terms ; in St Matthew (whom St Mark exactly 
follows) the elucidation, explanation, or commentary of 
those same terms. St Matthew, further, attributes to the 
whole of the guard, words which, as St Mark and St Luke 
report the matter, could have been uttered only by the 
centurion. Both St Mark and St Luke bring back St 
Matthew's plural to the historical reality. 

After this, St Luke describes the effect which the stu- 
pendous event of the crucifixion had upon the multitude 
(v. 48) : all the people, on their return from Golgotha, 
smote their breasts — a first preparatory movement for the 
great day of conversion which broke upon Jerusalem seven 
weeks afterwards on the day of Pentecost, as described 
by that same writer in the book of the Acts. 

2 We must understand these words, after his resurrection (v. 53), of the 
whole event ; for the resurrection of those saints naturally took place not till 
after that of the first of those that rose again, who is Jesus himself. But St 
Matthew characteristically combines the rending rocks with the opening graves, 
and the coming forth from them of the dead. 



430 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

St Matthew (v. 55, 56) and St Mark (v. 40, 41) speak 
again of the women who, as the disciples of Jesus, had 
followed him from Galilee, and mention who they were 
by name. St Luke, in an affecting manner, merges them 
all together in his record (v. 49) with his acquaintance 
who stood afar off. To these women, so full of faith, all 
three synoptical Evangelists return in the accounts they 
have given of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. St 
John, in mentioning (v. 25) the women who stood near 
the cross, gives us, when compared with Matthew (v. 56) 
and Mark (v. 40), a very important indication of the 
near consanguinity existing between the Lord Jesus and 
the beloved disciple. Salome, mentioned by St Mark 
under her own name, and by St Matthew as the mother 
of the sons of ' Zebedee, was more than probably that sister 
of the mother of our Lord, who, according to St John, 
stood with her by the cross of Jesus. Interpreters have 
recently suggested, on sufficient grounds, that the designa- 
tion " his mother's sister " in St John (v. 25), is not to 
be understood of Mary, the wife of Gleophas, but that we 
have here four distinct persons mentioned in two different 
couples : 1. The mother of our Lord; and, 2. Her sister 
(to wit, Salome) ; 3. Mary, the wife of Cleophas ; and, 4. 
Mary Magdalene, — St John having thus added a fourth 
person (the mother of the Lord herself) to the three 
already mentioned by the two first Evangelists. 1 

Finally, St John makes no mention of the signs made 
in nature, or of the emotions felt by the hearts and con- 
sciences of men on this great event. With him the 
account of the Saviour's death is accompanied with details 

1 The Syriac version and one Codex give expressly the conjunction and after 
the words: "his mother's sister." But the connexion and the sense are the 
same even without the conjunction. 



THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S PASSION. 431 

of a very different kind, still more sublime and fraught 
with a deeper meaning. He confines himself exclusively 
to the person of our Lord. The signs which he mentions 
(v. 31-37) affected the body itself of Jesus. Thus he tells 
us (v. 31-33) how before the commencement of the paschal 
Sabbath the bones of the two malefactors were broken; 
while none of the bones of Jesus, who was in the midst, 
were broken, in conformity with the prophecy both of 
the Law and of the Psalms. 1 He tells us (v. 34-37) how 
one of the soldiers pierced the Saviour's side when he was 
already dead, so that there came forth blood and ivater, 
and how there thus was accomplished another prophecy. 2 
He testifies (v. 35) to his having seen what he records, 
and to his knowing that he spoke the truth in order 
that we might believe. Here, then, we have in the 
Gospel of the beloved disciple a rich harmony of fulfil- 
ments of the Scriptures, of symbolical events, of harmo- 
nious dispositions of the Divine providence. Every thing 
had its special signification. Men are found accomplishing 
God's counsel, even without being aware of it, and with- 
out their intending it, the Lamb was slain, his blood 
was shed on the altar of the cross. Of the paschal lamb 
in Israel not a bone was to be broken : of Jesus, the 
Lamb of God, our Passover, not a bone was broken ; 
but his side was pierced even after death. Thus it is 
that he shall one day be seen in his glory even by those 
that have pierced him. With these prophetic words of 
an ancient prophet, St John, the Apostle Evangelist-Pro- 
phet, here closes the narrative of the passion (v. 37), and 
afterwards opens the book of the Revelation (i. 7). 

And here again we close this last division of our 
Evangelical history with a succinct view of the order in 

1 Numbers ix. 12: Pp. xxxiv. 21. " Zecliaviah xii. 10. 



432 THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

which the events took place. 1. Jesus is led to Gol- 
gotha (according to all the Evangelists) ; 2. Jesus bears 
his own cross (according to St John) ; 3. The soldiers 
compel Simon, the Cyrenian, to lift it up behind the 
Saviour, and to assist him in bearing it along (according 
to the synoptic Gospels) ; 4. Jesus addresses some words 
to the daughters of Jerusalem (according to St Luke); 
5. The stupifying drink is tasted and refused by Jesus 
(according to St Matthew and St Mark) ; 6. Jesus 
prays for transgressors before the crucifixion (according 
to St Luke) ; 7. The crucifixion between two thieves 
(according to all the Evangelists) ; 8. At the third hour 
(according to St Mark and St John); 9. The super- 
scription placed above the cross (according to all the 
Evangelists); 10. In three languages (named by St 
Luke and St John); 11. The discussions between 
Pilate and the Jews on the subject of this superscription 
(in St John); 12. The parting of the garments (accord- 
ing to all); together with, 13. The particular mention 
of the coat that was without seam, and of the lot that was 
cast upon that coat (in St John) ; 14. The mockings by four 
different sorts or classes of men (the synoptical Gospels) ; 
15. The conversion and the promise of glory to the con- 
verted malefactor (in St Luke); 16. The recommending 
of Mary by Jesus to the disciple whom he loved (in St 
John) ; 1 7. The darkening of the sun (in the synoptical 
Gospels); 18. The heart-rending under the hidings of 
his Father's countenance (in St Matthew and St Mark) ; 
19. The mockings of the soldiers (in the Synoptics) ; 20. 
The exclamation, I thirst (in St John); 21. The refresh- 
ment with vinegar (in all the Evangelists) ; 22. The ex- 
clamation, It is finished (in St John) ; 23. The giving 
up the ghost (by all the Evangelists) ; 24. The very 



THE NARRATIVES OP OUR LORD'S PASSIOX. 433 

words with which Jesus expired (according to St Luke) ; 
25. The rending of the veil of the temple (in the Synop- 
tics) ; 26. The earthquake, the cleaving of the rocks, the 
opening of the graves, the resurrection of the saints (in 
St Matthew) ; 27. The centurion's testimony (in the 
Synoptics) ; 28. The dismay of the multitude (in St 
Luke) ; 29. The presence at the sad scene of the women 
from Galilee (in the Synoptics); 30. The breaking of the 
bones of the two crucified malefactors, and the piercing 
of the Saviour's side, according to the prophecies (in St 
John). 



2 E 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 



P. 27 — " Yet this Israelite and Hebrew character of our 
first Gospel does not necessitate" &c. 

The opinion that St Matthew's Gospel was originally 
written in Hebrew, has long been maintained by many 
learned men, after the example of the Fathers of the 
Church, and even in our own days it finds numerous 
defenders among distinguished divines. 1 It appears to 
us, however, that this opinion has been sufficiently 
refuted by the celebrated Professor Hug, in his Introduc- 
tion to the New Testament, vol. ii. The conclusions he 
has drawn are mainly interesting as they bear upon the 
demonstration that the Greek tongue must have necessarily 
been that employed by St Matthew, even when address- 
ing Israelite readers, from regard to the following consi- 
derations, which he sums up at the close of his demon- 
stration in this manner : — 

" 1. Asia, in consequence of the domination of the 

1 As, for instance, among English literati, Mr Samuel Frideaux Tregelles, 
whose Dissertation on the Original Language of St Matthew's Gospel (London, 
1850) did not, however, convince the writer of these pages of the preponderance 
of his arguments over those of Hug and others on the subject. 



436 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

Macedonians, was filled far and wide with Greek towns. 
These multiplied more and more under the dynasty of 
the Ptolemies and the Seleucidse. Under this same 
influence, even such ancient cities as Tyre and Sidon 
changed their language. 2. The shores of Syria, Phoe- 
nicia, and Judea had in like manner towns which were 
entirely, or at least partly, Greek, scattered oyer them. 
The eastern parts of Palestine, from Arnon to Abilene, 
were towards the north Greek, and towards the south, 
in a great measure, in the possession of Greeks. In Judea 
and in Galilee there were towns entirely, or at least half, 
inhabited by Greeks. 3. Herod the Great had made 
unheard-of efforts to reform the Jews by transforming 
them into Greeks. 4. The domination of Rome was rather 
favourable than otherwise to this leaning toward Hellen- 
ism. 5. The religious authorities among the Jews, far 
from opposing obstacles in those times to the advance of 
Hellenism, were much rather disposed to do homage to the 
Greek tongue, down to the last moments of their political 
existence ; they recognized it as a language in common 
use in their literary works, as, for instance, in the case of 
their historian Josephus, and even admitted it into their 
judicial proceedings. 6. This same language, thus received 
on all hands into favour, came to be diffused also by daily 
use among all classes, to such an extent, that the people 
(with but few exceptions) understood it, though naturally 
attached to their own tongue. 7. Even in the holy city 
there were whole congregations of Jews speaking Greek. 
It was of these and of Greek proselytes that the Christian 
Church at Jerusalem was partly composed." Thus, then 
(the consequence is evident), in order to his being under- 
stood by the great majority of the Jews, to whom in the 
first instance our first Evangelist addressed himself, he 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 437 

had no need to make use of either Hebrew or Araniean, 
but the Greek, on the contrary, suited him equally well, 
and in certain respects even better. It was particularly 
as it bore upon future times that the Greek could not but 
be preferable. Writing, as he did, in the closing period 
of his nation's political existence, penetrated with the pre- 
dictions of his Divine Master, which announced the de- 
struction of the Jewish polity as rapidly approaching, and 
already perceiving of himself the signs that harbingered 
it in the course of being accomplished, he naturally 
behoved to dismiss the use of that nation's language, see- 
ing that soon it was to cease to be a nation, if at least he 
designed his work to outlast a few months or years, and 
if he desired that the remnant of the Jews, scattered and 
wandering in other lands, should have it in their power to 
make themselves acquainted with it. It is thus that, by 
a natural train of reasoning, we are at once led a priori 
to this result : that St Matthew's Gospel must have been 
written in Greek. There is nothing in the text itself 
of that Gospel opposed to such a supposition; on the 
contrary, more than one passage (as for example, chap, 
xxvii. 46) evidently supports it. And to such an extent 
does this hold true, that commentators, among others 
Olshausen 1 (who always preserved the tradition of a 
Hebrew Gospel of St Matthew), have been led to con- 
clude that the Apostle must himself have written his 
Gospel first in Hebrew, afterwards in Greek, so that both 
must have been original Gospels. Others, like De Wette 
{Kurze ErHdrung, S. 2, 3), have declared their inability 
to decide as to an original Hebrew which no one has ever 
really seen. Erasmus long ago combated the opinion 
that there must have been a St Matthew's Gospel in 

1 Biblischer Commentar. I, 11, 



438 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

Hebrew, by pointing to the eminently Greek composition 
of that which we now possess. 



P. 48 — " Get thee behind me, Satan!" 

The best critics are entirely agreed (on the authority 
of several eminent manuscripts, of the Vulgate, and seve- 
ral other ancient translations, as well as on that of the 
oldest and best Fathers of the Greek Church) that these 
words, Get thee behind me, Satan! here, are not in their 
place in St Luke's Gospel, but have been intercalated 
afterwards by copyists who had taken them from St 
Matthew (iv. 10). Bengel (in his Apparatus) says of 
them by way of elucidation : " Hsec verba : Abi post me, 
Satana ! ascribere Domino non decuit Lucam, qui postea 
alium Satanse memorat incursum. Ex Matthseo recen- 
tiores Greed hue traduxerunt." Compare also Griesbach 
and Teschendorf. 



P. 107 — " The Roman characteristic remains," &c. 

The Roman character further occurs, among other 
places, in a remarkable amplification by our Evangelist 
on the subject of divorce. At the declaration that the 
husband who leaves his wife and takes another commits 
adultery (Matth. xix. 9), St Mark judged it necessary to 
add in precise terms (x. 12) : And if a woman shall put 
away her husband, and be married to another, she com- 
mitteth adultery. Wetstein in his commentary at this 
passage : " Ex eo autem quod Christus de viris uxores 
repudiantibus dixerat, Marcus infert multo scelestius esse, 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 439 

si nmlier viruin deserat : quod et Rontanis quibus Marcus 
scripsit, licituin, et tum teinporis, licentia supra modum 
grassante, familiare erat." 



P. 109 — " The more we reflect on the expression, All 
the Jews" &c. 

We are aware that in St John also, and sometimes even 
in St Matthew, there occurs that same expression : The 
Jews, notwithstanding that both those Gospel writers were 
themselves, unquestionably, of that nation. But what 
distinguishes the passage in St Mark is the conjunction 
and : the Pharisees and all the Jews, intimating that the 
writer himself belonged as little to the one as to the other 
of these. A still more evident indication, certainly, of the 
Gentile origin of our second Evangelist, may be seen in the 
remarkable insertion which he makes on the occasion of 
the purification of the Temple : 

Matth. xxi. 13. Mark xi. 17. Luke xix. 46. 

My house shall be My house shall be My house is the 
called the house of called of all nations house of prayer, 
prayer. (Gr. nda-i rots edveo-i) 

the house of prayer. 



P. Ill — " In both we have the same emphatic repeti- 
tions" &c. 

Thus, for instance, Csesar's Commentaries abound with 
repetitions similar to those we have noted in St Mark's 
Gospel. Opening his Gallic War, we find at once, 
cap. vi. § 1 , " Erant omnino itinera duo, quibus itineribas 
domo exire possent." § 4, " Diem dicunt qua die ad 



440 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

ripam Rhodani omnes conveniant." Cap. xxiii. § 1, 
and passim " postridie ejus diei." Cap. xxxi. § 1, " Uti 
sibi secreto in occulto de sua omniumque salute cum 
eo agere liceret." Cap. xlix. § 1, " Ultra eum locum quo 
in loco Germani consederant f and so in many other 
passages. 



P. Ill — "The very word straightway," &c. 

The military character of this word straightway in St 
Mark's Gospel has been clearly perceived also by Lange 
(Ueber die Authentic der Vier Evangelien in the Theo- 
logische Studien und Kritihen of 1839) : " Das Liebling's 
wort des Marcus is das frische eidem ; es kehret in 
seinem Erz'ahlungen immer wieder. — Seine Losung war 
€v6 im wie Blucher's Losung : Vorwarts \" Neither did 
the military character of many of our Evangelist's ex- 
pressions escape the notice of Wetstein : " Habet plures 
voces Latinas aut rem militarem spectantes, ut Xeyewv, 
(T7re/covXcLTCDp, avaav/JLov" (Introd. Comment, in Marc.) It 
is surprising that, notwithstanding numerous notices of a 
military language in St Mark, no one appears to have 
been led to the idea that the person who wrote thus 
might himself have been a soldier. To the indications 
bearing upon that profession, we may add further expres- 
sions peculiar to St Mark as an individual — Svo Bvo, by 
two and two, when the twelve were sent out (vi. 7) ; 
in like manner at the multiplication of the loaves (vi. 39, 

40), his av/jLTTOcria av/JL7rocna, irpaatai irpaaiai, ava e/carov 

Kaa ava irevTr\Kovra — a passage which, in its general aspect, 
quite suggests the idea of a military order : And he com- 
manded them to make all sit down by companies — that 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 441 

is, round the turf which served on that occasion for tables 
— upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks by 
hundreds and by fifties. In St Matthew we have only 
the germ of the picture presented bj St Mark in the 
word dvcLK\iv6r)vaL (xiv. 19); St Luke and St John evi- 
dently follow, though in their own manner, the narrative 
of St Mark. 



P. 116 — " Was no other than that same devout 
soldier" &c, 

It is precisely on that account that it was not seemly, 
in accordance with the tenderness and delicacy of feeling 
that influenced our sacred writers, that the striking his- 
tory of that other centurion, whose faith is so much praised 
in St Matthew and St Luke, should have been taken into 
his Gospel by St Mark. The eulogy of the Gentile, and 
especially of the Gentile soldier — of the Roman soldier — 
behoved to be omitted in a Gospel written by the pious 
soldier attached to the family of the centurion Cornelius. 
It is, accordingly, on that account that St Luke here fills 
the place of St Mark, by describing, with greater ampli- 
tude and detail, those facts of which St Matthew, in har- 
mony with the character of his Gospel, has only given the 
general outline. (Matth. viii. 5-13, compared with St Luke 
vii. 2, 10.) Neither do we any where find taken into St 
Mark's Gospel that sentence uttered by our Lord which 
St Matthew gives in connexion with the great faith shewn 
by the centurion (viii. 11, 12), and which St Luke (xiii. 
29) gives at its true historical place : Many shall come 
from the east and from the west, and shall sit doiun with 
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, w the kingdom of heaven : 



442 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into 
outer darkness. 



P. 131— "Neither the son" &c. 

Bengel, upon the very passage in St Mark (xiii. 42) : 
" Dices : Cur appellator h. 1. Films, non sumpta denomina- 
tione a natura humana ? Resp. Id enunciatis de Sal- 
yatore cum prsedicato glorioso copulari solet subjectum 
demissum (Matth xvi. 28; John i. 12; iii. 13); cum 
prsedicato demisso, subjectum gloriosum. (Matth. xxi. 3 ; 
1 Cor. ii. 8.) 

P. 142 — " There is yet another circumstance which we 
may infer" &c. 

We willingly admit that the Gentile origin of St Luke 
would not be sufficiently proved by comparing v. 11 
with v. 18 in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the 
Colossians. It is only by combining this passage with 
the entire spirit of St Luke's writings that the proof which 
several interpreters have drawn with respect to this 
point from the passage in the Epistle to the Colossians, 
acquires its true force. There is another passage, how- 
ever, in one of the writings of St Luke himself, which 
seems to us to prove directly his Gentile origin. It occurs 
in the Acts of the Apostles (chap. i. 19), where we read, 
when he is referring to the Jews, that the field Aceldama 
was thus called in their proper tongue. It is clear that 
these words make no part of St Peter's discourse, he 
himself being an Israelite, but that they formed a paren- 
thesis of the narrator St Luke, 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 448 

P. 148 — " Syria, in particular, was in those days 
highly reputed for the practice of medicine" 

Strictly speaking, it was not until a later age that the 
medical reputation of Syria is proved with any historical 
certainty. But at all events, the practice of medicine 
was, so early as during the time of Augustus, in the hands 
of foreigners ; for the most part of Greek slaves or freed- 
men — in the case, for instance, of Antonius Musa, whom 
the Emperor raised to the rank of a Roman knight, and in 
whose honour afterwards a statue was set up in the temple 
of Esculapius. 



P. 148 — " while the termination of his name" &c. 

Tholiick, in his Glaiibiuilrdigheit cler Evangelischen 
Geschichte, S. 148, at the second note : " Die Endung a? 
namlich ist eine kontraction, welche ins besondere audi 
bei sklavennamen oft vorkomint." Lobeck de Substant. 
in a? exeuntibus, in Wolfs Analecten iii. § 49. At all 
events, Lucas is the contraction for the known name 
Lucanus. In some manuscripts of his Gospel we even 
read this name at full length. 



P. 149 — " The style of the ancient classical his- 
torian" Sec. 

The celebrated Valckenaer expresses himself in these 
terms, speaking of the style of St Luke : " Stylus Lucse 
in Evangelio talis est qualis historicum decet, simplex et 
purus, tamen a stylo reliquorum scriptorum N. T. longe 
diversus ; est enim stylus Luc?e magnam partem nitidus 



444 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

et Grsecus, quum stylus reliquorum propius accedat ad 
vulgarem loquendi rationem, quse inter Judseos Grsece 
loquentes obtinebat locum, atque adeo formis ubique 
scateat quas Hebraisinos vocant, quibus parcius utitur 
Lucas, suamque scribeiidi normam ad elegantiorum Grse- 
corum regulas saapenumero accommodavit" 



P. 151 — " But he is no less accurate in giving 
epochs" &c. 

To this further belongs the ulterior determination of 
the epoch of the Sabbath on which the disciples were 
reprehended bj the Pharisees for having plucked the ears 
of corn on that day (Matth. xii. 1). St Luke gives to 
this Sabbath (vi. 1) a name which is found nowhere else : 
SevrepoTTpcDTov. That this second-first Sabbath is a pro- 
perly Jewish denomination for some fixed and particular 
day of repose is not to be doubted, even although we 
should not be able exactly to say what day it was, or 
at what precise period of the year it occurred. Some 
are of opinion that the first Sabbath means a great 
Sabbath, a feast-day Sabbath (the first Sabbath after one 
of the great feasts), and go on to admit three such Sab- 
baths — namely, those immediately following the Feasts of 
the Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, among 
which the Sabbath after Pentecost will then have been 
the §evTepo7rpcoTov, or second great Sabbath 



P. 156 — " the language that is appropriate to 

the subject, purely and naturally employed!' 

We may take for an example of this exactness in St 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 445 

Luke in Greek terminology, the description of the voyage 
into Italy, and of the shipwreck at Malta, in the 27th chap- 
ter of the Acts, where the following terms are worthy of 
remark, for characteristic Greek accuracy : dvdyeaOai and 
KardyeaOat (v. 2 and 3), to set sail, and to return (to 
port) ; viroifKeiv (v. 4 and 7), to tack; ppaSvifkoetv (v, 
7), to sail slowly, to advance with difficulty ; dvTofydaX- 
fjueiv to) dve^w, to go against, to pace the wind; 1 and 
€7nSdvTes $>epea6cu (v. 15), to let the ship drive; vtto&v- 
vvetv ifKolov (v. 17), to under gird the ship with ropes; 
7rpo<;dyeiv nva avrol? x^P av ( v - ^7), that they approached 
the land; PoXl&iv (v. 28), to throw the lead; yaka&iv 
rrjv gkol^vv (v. 30), to let down the boat, &c. &c. 

The word eKTriirreiv should have been translated at v. 
17, as well as at v. 32, by to be carried along by the cur- 
rent. The soldiers did not lower the boat into the sea, 
as (v. 30) had already been done by the sailors, but they 
cut the ropes, and thus made it useless by allowing it to 
float away, and this they did in order to prevent the 
sailors from succeeding in their project. 

Compare, for a striking notice of the accuracy of St 
Luke as to sea terms and details of a sea voyage, " The 
Voyage and Shipwreck of St Paul." By James Smith, 
Esq. of Jordanhill, F.R.S., &c. London, 1848. 

P. 158 — " in such sort, that many particulars, 

true at one time, if transposed" &c. 

To the instances of this, which our observations on the 
Gospel of St Luke have supplied, a no less remarkable 
one, bearing on a passage in that of St Matthew, might 

1 If I mistake not, our seamen have the still more analogous expression to 
that in the Greek, of digging into the ivind's eye, when luffing up in a gale.— Tr. 



446 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

be added. St Matthew is the only Evangelist that makes 
mention of the wife of Pilate in the history of the 
Passion (xxvii. 19). Some passages of Suetonius {in 
August o, cap. 24) and others, from which we learn that 
down to the time of the emperor Augustus, governors 
were not at liberty to take their wives along with them 
into the provinces, might certainly have given infidel 
philosophers fine scope for disputing the entire historical 
truth of that particularity, provided we did not learn from 
passages, equally conclusive and well known, in Tacitus, 
that from the commencement of the reign of Tiberius, and 
even as early as towards the close of that of Augustus, 
that custom, or that abuse, had ceased to be opposed. 
Thus we read in the historian to whom we refer (Annal. 
iii. 33, 34), how Severus Csecina moved in the senate ne 
quern magistratum, cui provincia obvenisset, uxor comi- 
taretur. But it was to no effect. In consequence of 
various objections Ccecince sententia elusa. 



P. 164 — " The signs that were to accompany the last 
times" &c. 

There is, perhaps, no passage in the Gospels that has 
been the occasion of more pain to enemies, and that has 
more exposed their impotency, than the prediction of the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and of Israel's dispersion. The 
agreement between the prediction and the result could 
not be denied. The opposers have been driven, accordingly, 
to have recourse to the supposition that the prediction was 
inserted after the event! But the insufficiency of this 
subterfuge is exposed at once by the simple remark, that 
a prophecy made up after the event which it professed to 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



44 ! 



predict, would necessarily be wanting in that character 
of simplicity and sobriety which so remarkably marks 
the prophetic passages in our Gospels that treat of this 
subject, and would, most unquestionably, not have failed 
to have entered into much fuller details of persons and 
of facts, such as we now know from history. Above 
all, in any such supposition, it is not possible to explain 
how the destruction of Jerusalem (which, in the case 
supposed, must have taken place when the prediction 
was written) should have been spoken of in such imme- 
diate connexion with the still future advent of the Saviour, 
and the final consummation of all things. 

Nevertheless, a difficulty with respect to this double 
prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, and of the consumma- 
tion of all things, here requires some further elucidation. 
But, first of all, let us once more contemplate the synop- 
tical Gospels in juxtaposition, in the different accounts 
they have given of that prophecy, in order that we may 
place in its true light the connexion, as represented in 
the Gospels, between the judgment pronounced on Jeru- 
salem and that pronounced on the world in our Lord's 
prophetical sayings. 



Mattii. xxiv. 1. 

And Jesus went out, 
and departed from the 
temple : and his dis- 
ciples came to him, for 
to shew him the build- 
ings of the temple. 2. 
And Jesus said unto 
them, See ye not all 
these things? Verily 
I say unto you, There 
shall not be left here 
one stone upon an- 
other, that shall not be 



Mask xiii. 1. 
And as he went out 
of the temple, one of 
his disciples saith unto 
him, Master, see what 
manner of stones and 
what buildings are here! 
2. And Jesus answer- 
ing, said unto him, 
Scest thou these great 
buildings ? there shall 
not be left one stone 
upon another, that 
shall not be thrown 



Luke xxi. 5. 
And as some spake 
of the temple, how it 
was adorned with goodly 
stones and gifts, he said, 
6. As for these things 
which ye behold, the 
days will come, in the 
which there shall not 
be left one stone upon 
another, that shall not 
be thrown down. 7. 
And they asked him. 
saying. Master, but 



448 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 



thrown down. 3. And 
as he sat upon the 
mount of Olives, the 
disciples came unto 
him privately, saying, 
Tell us, when shall 
these things be? and 
what shall be the sign 
of thy coming, and of 
the end of the world ? 

4. And Jesus an- 
swered and said unto 
them, Take heed that 
no man deceive you. 
5. For many shall 
come in my name, 
saying, I am Christ; 
and shall deceive 
many. 

6. And ye shall hear 
of wars, and rumours 
of wars; see that ye 
be not troubled: for 
all these things must 
come to pass, but the 
end is not yet. 7. For 
nation shall rise against 
nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom: and 
there shall be famines, 
and pestilences, and 
earthquakes, in divers 
places. 8. All these 
are the beginning of 
sorrows. 



9. Then shall they 
deliver you up to be 
afflicted, and shall kill 
you: 



down. 3. And as he 
sat upon the mount of 
Olives, over against 
the temple, Peter, and 
James, and John, and 
Andrew, asked him 
privately, 4. Tell us, 
when shall these things 
be ? and what shall be 
the sign when all these 
things shall be fulfilled? 
5. And Jesus an- 
swering them, began 
to say, Take heed lest 
any man deceive you : 
6. For many shall come 
in my name, saying, I 
am (it) j 1 aud shall 
deceive many. 

7. And when ye 
shall hear of wars, and 
rumours of wars, be ye 
not troubled: for such 
things must needs be; 
but the end shall not 
be yet. 8. For nation 
shall rise against na- 
tion, and kingdom 
against kingdom; and 
there shall be earth- 
quakes in divers places, 
and there shall be 
famines and troubles: 
these are the be- 
ginnings of sorrows. 
9. But take heed 
to yourselves : for 
they shall deliver you 
up to councils ; and 
in the synagogues ye 
shall be beaten: and 
ye shall be brought 
before rulers and kings 
for my sake, for a tes- 



when shall these things 
be? and what sign will 
there be when these 
things come to pass? 



8. And he said, 
Take heed that ye be 
not deceived : for many 
shall come in my name, 
saying, I am (it) ; 2 and 
the time draweth near : 
go ye not therefore after 
them. 

9. But when ye shall 
hear of wars and com- 
motions, be not terri- 
fied: for these things 
must first come to pass ; 
but the end is not by 
and by. 10. Then said 
he unto them, Nation 
shall rise against na- 
tion, and kingdom 
against kingdom: 11. 
And great earthquakes 
shall be in divers 
places, and famines 
and pestilences ; and 
fearful sights and great 
signs shall there be 
from heaven. 

12. But before all 
these, they shall lay 
their hands on you, 
and persecute you, de- 
livering you up to the 
synagogues, and into 
prisons, being brought 



1 Which our translation renders in Italics, Christ. 

2 See preceding note. — Tr. 



-Tk. 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 



449 



and ye shall be hated 
of all nations for my 
name's sake. 

10. And then shall 
many be offended, and 
shall betray one an- 
other, and shall hate 
one another. 1 1 . And 
many false prophets 
shall rise, and shall 
deceive many. 12. 
And because iniquity 
shall abound, the love 
of many shall wax 
cold. 13. But he that 
shall endure unto the 
end, the same shall be 
saved. 14. And this 
gospel of the kingdom 
shall be preached in all 
the world for a witness 
unto all nations ; and 
then shall the end come. 



15. When ye there- 
fore shall see the abo- 
mination of desolation, 
spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, stand in 
the holy place, (whoso 
readeth, let him under- 
stand,) 16. Then let 
them which be in Judea 
flee into the mountains : 
17. Let him which is 
on the house-top not 
come down to take 
anything out of his 
house: 18. Neither 
let him which is in the 
field return back to 
take his clothes. 19. 
And woe unto them 



timony against them. 

10. And the gospel 
must first be published 
among all nations. 

11. But when they 
shall lead you, and 
deliver you up, take 
no thought beforehand 
what ye shall speak, 
neither do ye preme- 
ditate ; but whatsoever 
shall be given you in 
that hour, that speak 
ye : for it is not ye 
that speak, but the 
Holy Ghost. 12. Now 
the brother shall be- 
tray the brother to 
death, and the father 
the son ; and children 
shall rise up against 
their parents, and shall 
cause them to be put 
to death. 13. And 
ye shall be hated of all 
men for my name's 
sake : but he that shall 
endure unto the end, 
the same shall be saved. 

14. But when ye 
shall see the abomin- 
ation of desolation, 
spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, standing 
where it ought not, (let 
him that readeth under- 
stand,) then let them 
that be in Judea flee 
to the mountains : 15. 
And let him that is on 
the house-top not go 
down into the house, 
neither enter therein, 
to take anything out of 
his house: 16. And 
let him that is in the 
field not turn back 
again for to take up 
2 F 



before kings and rulers 
for my name's sake. 

13. And it shall turn 
to you for a testimony. 

14. Settle it therefore 
in your hearts not to 
meditate before what 
ye shall answer: 15. 
For I will give you a 
mouth and wisdom, 
which all your adver- 
saries shall not be able 
to gainsay nor resist. 
16. And ye shall be 
betrayed both by pa- 
rents, and brethren, 
and kinsfolks and 
friends ; and some of 
you shall they cause to 
be put to death. 17. 
And ye shall be hated 
of all men for my 
name's sake. 18. 
But there shall not an 
hair of your head 
perish. 19. In your 
patience possess ye 
your souls. 

20. And when ye 
shall see Jerusalem 
compassed with armies, 
then know that the 
desolation thereof is 
nigh. 21. Then let 
them which are in 
Judea flee to the moun- 
tains ; and let them 
which are in the midst 
of it depart out ; and 
let not them that are 
in the countries enter 
thereinto. 22. For 
these be the days of 
vengeance, that all 
things which are writ- 
ten may be fulfilled. 
23. But woe unto them 



450 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 



that are with child, 
and to thein that give 
suck, in those days ! 
20. But pray ye that 
your flight be not in 
the winter, neither on 
the Sabbath - day : 21. 
For then shall be great 
tribulation, such as 
was not since the be- 
ginning of the world to . 
this time, no, nor ever 
shall be. 22. And 
except those days 
should be shortened, 
there should no flesh 
be saved: but for the 
elect's sake, those days 
shall be shortened. 
23. Then if any man 
shall say unto you, Lo, 
here is Christ, or there ; 
believe it not. 24. 
For there shall arise 
false Christs, and false 
prophets, and shall 
shew great signs and 
wonders ; insomuch 
that, if it were pos- 
sible, they shall deceive 
the very elect. 

25. Behold, I have 
told you before. 26. 
Wherefore if they shall 
say unto you, Behold, 
he is in the desert ; go 
not forth: behold, he 
is in the secret cham- 
bers ; believe it not. 
27. For as the light- 
ning cometh out of the 
east, and shineth even 
unto the west ; so shall 
also the coming of the 
Son of man be. 28. 
For wheresoever the 
carcase is, there will 



his garment. 17. 
But woe to them that 
are with child, and to 
them that give suck, in 
those days! 18. And 
pray ye that your flight 
be not in the winter. 
19. For in those days 
shall be affliction, such 
as was not from the 
beginning of the cre- 
ation which God cre- 
ated unto this time, 
neither shall be. 20. 
And except that the 
Lord had shortened 
those days, no flesh 
should be saved : but 
for the elects sake, 
whom he hath chosen, 
he hath shortened the 
days. 21. And then 
if any man shall say 
to you, Lo, here is 
Christ ; or, lo, he is 
there ; believe him not : 
22. For false Christs 
and false prophets shall 
rise, and shall shew 
signs and wonders, to 
seduce, if it were pos- 
sible, even the elect. 

23. But take ye 
heed: behold, I have 
foretold you all things. 



that are with child, and 
to them that give suck, 
in those days ! for there 
shall be great distress 
in the land, and wrath 
upon this people. 24. 
And they shall fall by 
the edge of the sword, 
and shall be led away 
captive into all nations : 
and Jerusalem shall be 
trodden down of the 
Gentiles, until the times 
of the Gentiles be ful- 
filled. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 



451 



the eagles be gathered 
together. 

29. Immediately 
after the tribulation of 
those days, shall the 
sun be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give 
her light, and the stars 
shall fall from heaven, 
and the powers of the 
heavens shall be 
shaken : 30. And 
then shall appear the 
sign of the Son of man 
in heaven, and then 
shall all the tribes of 
the earth mourn, and 
they shall see the Son 
of man coming in the 
clouds of heaven with 
power and great glory. 



24. But in those 
days, after that tribu- 
lation, the sun shall be 
darkened, and the moon 
shall not give her light, 

25. And the stars of 
heaven shall fall, and 
the powers that are in 
heaven shall be shaken. 

26. And then shall 
they see the Son of 
man coming in the 
clouds, with great 
power and glory. 



25. And there shall 
be signs in the sun, 
and in the moon, and 
in the stars ; and upon 
the eaith distress of 
nations, with perplexity ; 
the sea and the leaves 
roaring; 26. Men's 
hearts failing them for 
fear, and for looking 
after those things which 
are coming on the earth: 
for the powers of 
heaven shall be shaken. 
27. And then shall 
they see the Son of man 
coming in a cloud with 
power and great glory. 



Here, again, one perceives easily that the points of 
difference and apTeenient are the same throughout as those 
which our previous comparison of the synoptical Gospels 
presented. We confine ourselves to the most important. 
All three have this in common, that they divide the Lord's 
prophecy into three distinct parts, namely, the prediction 
concerning the temple in particular, and the signs that 
were to harbinger the desolation; among which signs 
were the grievous oppression to be suffered by be- 
lievers (Matth., v. 1-14 ; Mark, v. 1-13 ; Luke, v. 
5-19) ; — the prediction of the siege and destruction of 
Jerusalem (Matth., v. 15-48; Mark, v. 14-23; Luke, 
v. 20-24) ; — and that of the last signs, and of the coming 
of the Son of man (Matth., v. 29, 30 ; Mark, v. 24-26 ; 
and Luke, v. 52-27.) 

These three predictions, in all three synoptical Gospels 
most closely connected with each other, are, nevertheless. 



452 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

in St Luke, in conformity with his historical character, 
kept more distinctly apart from each other ; in St 
Matthew, on the contrary, they ran more, like objects 
drawn in distant perspective, into each other. St 
Mark, with the exception of the amplifications and in- 
versions that are peculiar to him, generally follows his 
predecessor. — St Matthew, and he alone, comprises at 
once (y. 3), in the same question put by the disciples, 
the destruction of the temple and the end of the world. 
Anon (v. 9) he mentions the hatred of all nations to the 
Gospel on account of the name of Jesus, which we may 
regard as mainly referring to a later period ; whereas St 
Mark (v. 13) and St Luke (v. 17) record only these 
words : Ye shall be hated of all men (that is to say, 
contemporaries), for my name's sake. 

But St Matthew and St Mark distinguish themselves 
from St Luke more particularly in the second part of the 
prophecy. The two former do not even give the name 
of the city, but indicate it merely by the quotation from 
Daniel (ix. 2) ; whereas St Luke makes express and cir- 
cumstantial mention of Jerusalem, that it would be invested 
with armies ; and further, that the inhabitants of Judea 
would be put to death, and dispersed as captives and 
exiles ; in fine, that Jerusalem would be trodden under 
foot, not for ever, but until the times of the Gentiles be 
fulfilled. St Matthew and St Mark here revert, in some de- 
tails (one alone of which re-occurs in a different connexion 
in the historical narrative of St Luke, xvii. 23, 24), to 
the false Christs and the false prophets that would appear 
— a sign which, looking to the New Testament prophecies 
as a whole, may be considered as common to the final 
period of the Jewish polity, and the final period also of 
the world's present economy. 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 453 

The transition to the prediction of the last events in 
the world's history, occurs, then, in St Matthew, in direct 
connexion with the judgment on Jerusalem, at the word 
immediately (v. 29), modified already by St Mark, or at 
least explained by him in the wider expression : in those 
days — a term which, in the Old Testament, does not 
always imply an identity of time, but only a relation of 
connexion in the development of times. In St Luke, the 
transition from the earlier to the last events in the Lord's 
discourse, is very evident. We perceive that verse 24 
closes with a finished period, and the details of the 25th 
verse may, without any violence to the context, be readily 
referred to a remoter period of time. 

It is, however, from this intimate connexion between the 
destruction of Jerusalem and the world's final judgment 
that people have been led to entertain the notion, that 
— not only in the personal expectation of the apostles and 
first believers, but according to the very predictions of 
Jesus, and the language of the writers of the New Tes- 
tament — the end of all tilings and the coming of the 
Lord should have immediately followed the fall of the 
Jewish polity. To what this notion necessarily leads is 
very plain. But the error springs from ignorance of the 
manner in which the prophets viewed distant events, and 
of that peculiar mode of expression which was usual 
with them. Prophecy, alike in the Old and in the 
New Testament, does not always make known the dif- 
ference of epochs and the space that keeps events at a 
distance. It rather heaps, as if upon one level or panel 
(unless where an express distinction of epochs and of 
years is essential to the matter in hand) events that are 
connected together by the same internal and remoter 
bond of relationship. Thus, for instance, Isaiah places 



454 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

before our view simultaneously the epochs of the suffer- 
ings and of the reign of the Messiah, without intimating 
to us the distance in point of time that was to lie be- 
tween them in their fulfilment. Thus, in other passages, 
prophecy has identified the first and second destruction 
of the Holy City, and the different dispersions, as well 
as the different restorations, of Judah and of Israel. 
But in their accomplishment, the two events thus con- 
founded in the prophecy stand apart, and attach them- 
selves each to its own proper period. According to the 
same analogy, that blessed Head of all the prophets of 
the Old and New Testament has identified his predic- 
tion of Jerusalem's coming woes with the prophecy of the 
last days and of the final judgment, just as in a perspec- 
tive before the eye of a traveller, a great many streams 
and fields disappear, as it were, between the heights of 
mountains at the two extremities. In the accomplish- 
ment, of course, the two different events distinguish them- 
selves from each other, and take their respective places in 
history. 

Let the same principle be applied to all the passages 
of the New Testament where the coming of the Lord is 
spoken of as nigh at hand, even when the apostles were 
living. Against all narrow conception of the strong 
expression, at hand, the apostle Paul himself has, in the 
Second Epistle to the Thessaionians (chap, ii.), given the 
requisite elucidation. Yes ; — the return of Christ and the 
end of the present world are, and become more and 
more, at hand to us ; but in that promise, nevertheless, 
there is manifestly comprehended the accomplishment 
of every thing that must previously take place as neces- 
sary for the ripening of all things for that all-decisive 
moment. And here the words of the Psalmist and 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 455 

Apostle are peculiarly applicable, that a thousand years 
in the Lord's sight are but as yesterday, and that one 
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thou- 
sand years as one day (Ps. xc. 4 ; 2 Pet. iii. 8.) 



P. 168 — "In both alike we find the circumstance which 
bears so much on the history of the institution, that the 
cup was blessed and drunk after supper." 

By the historical bearing here adverted to, we mean 
chiefly the Israelitic origin of the New Testament supper. 
The breaking of bread, as it was done by the Master on the 
last night, as a sublime symbol of his approaching expia- 
tory death, was then, and is to this day, in Israel, a 
common domestic solemnity, at the thanksgiving prayer 
before the supper. And in like manner, with the Israel- 
ites, at the Paschal table, four different cups are blessed, 
down to this day. Now, the passages adduced from St 
Paul and St Luke teach us that the cup which was blessed 
by the Lord, as a covenant token of the New Testament 
in his blood, was that which is drunk at the close of the 
repast (shortly before the hymn of praise). Thus did 
both the beginning and the end of the Israelitic Paschal 
supper become, by the word of the Lord, the expression 
of the beginning and the end of the whole of our Chris- 
tian faith — the Saviour's body broken, and his blood shed 
for our sins. 



456 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

P. 1 72 — " The narrative in St Luke as the searcher of 
men's hearts!' 

It is as such, that we find the apostles call upon Him 
at the time of the election of a twelfth in the place of 
Juclas, in the book of the Acts, i. 24, Thou, Lord, which 

KNOWEST THE HEARTS OF ALL MEN (/capScoyvooara irdvrwv), 

shew whether of these two thou hast chosen. From the 
whole connexion (especially from the second verse of this 
chapter), it is evident that the prayer then offered was 
addressed to Him who, in the Revelation of St John, 
witnesses of himself (ii. 23) : / am he which searcheth the 
reins and hearts. How is it possible that such a title and 
such an attribute can ever have been conceived to belong 
to Christ as less than, as differing from, the eternal God 
— yea, Israel's Jehovah \ (Compare Jer. xi. 20; xvii. 
10; Ps. vii. 9.) 



P. 1 72 — " The narrative in St Luke might, so to speak, 
have for its title that saying of St Paul, that in Jesus 
Christ nothing is of any avail, but faith tuhich ivorketh 
by low?— (Gal. v. 6.) 

In this very saying of St Paul's, we find explained to 
us the twofold declaration of the Saviour (Luke vii. 
47-50), namely, to the Pharisees : Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven; for she loved much ; — and to the 
woman herself : Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace ! 
Between God and the sinner there is nothing but faith 
that saves. In the manifestation of the truth of that 
faith before men, love is the channel by which faith yields 
its fruits. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 457 



P. 175 — "A remarkable effect of this resemblance is 
found in the conjecture of Grotius, who attributes to St 
Luke the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews" 

See Grotius in the Introduction of his Commentary on 
that Epistle, where he recommends a comparison of Acts 
xxiii. 20, with Heb. y. 7 ; Luke xiii. 11, with Heb. vii. 3, 
23; Acts vi. 3, and xvi. 2, with Heb. vii 8, xi. 2, 5, 39 ; 
Luke ii. 26, and Acts x. 22, with Heb. viii. 5 ; Luke 
xxii. 26, with Heb. xiii. 7, 17 ; Acts iii. 15, v. 31, with 
Heb. ii. 10, and xii. 2. 



P. 223 — " The expulsion of the son from the vineyard 
is given in details by all the three?' 

The expulsion of the son is an important element in 
the similitude, owing to its bringing out in strong relief 
one of the particulars in the passion, on which the Apostle 
lays much stress in the Epistle to the Hebrews ; first, 
as respects the agreement with the type in the Old 
Testament (xiii. 11, 12): For the bodies of those beasts 
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest 
for sin, are burnt without the camp ; tuherefore Jesus also, 
that lie might sanctify the people with his oivn blood, suf- 
fered without the gate ; and afterwards, in his applica- 
tion of the parallelism to the Christian life of believers 
(v. 13, 14) : Let us go forth therefore unto him with- 
out the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have here 
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. 



458 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 



P. 282— " Yet the silence— destroyed" 

That the Gospel of St John was written after the de- 
struction of Jerusalem has been considered by us as highly 
probable. This apparent probability becomes a sufficient 
certainty, when we compare the passages where mention 
is made of Jerusalem as a city no longer in existence. 
Near the city there was a garden (xviii. 1 ; xix. 41) : 
Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem (xi. 18.) And there 
is no contradiction to this in its being stated (v. 2), that 
there is a pool at Jerusalem (at the present time, ean), 
for the pool remained after the city was destroyed. But 
in the whole prevailing tone likewise of this Gospel, when 
Jerusalem is spoken of, there is something (as Hug ex- 
presses it) wie man von vergangenen Dingen spricht 1 
That St Peter was no longer living in this world when 
the beloved disciple wrote his Gospel, appears not only 
from the prediction of his martyrdom recorded in its 
closing chapter (xxi. 18), but also (xviii. 10) from the 
mention of Peter's name when Malchus was wounded. 

The three first Gospels bear with them and in them, 
manifest proof that they were written at a much earlier 
period; not only from St John's assuming their contents 
as known, supplementing them, and tacitly referring to 
them, but also from their very composition. No less 
distinctly can we recognise in the synoptical Gospels the 
colouring of a time at which the temple at Jerusalem was 
still existing, than we perceive in the Gospel of St John 
that of an epoch when city and temple were no more. 

St Luke's writings admit, perhaps, of our fixing a little 
more definitely the time at which they were composed 

1 That is, intimating that the author is speaking- of things gone by. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 459 

and published. The Acts of the Apostles (that is to 
say, the second book of his Gospel), closing with the 
residence and captivity of St Paul at Rome for two years, 
intimates by that conclusion, which comes upon us some- 
what unexpectedly, or abruptly, that the author had 
brought his narrative down to the period at which his 
book was written. In fact, there is much reason to con- 
jecture that St Luke, in the midst of his voyages and 
occupations of various kinds in the Churches, had taken 
advantage, for the composition of his books, of two periods 
of repose in his own career and that of St Paul, — namely, 
for the Gospel, the epoch of St Paul's imprisonment at 
Csesarea (Acts xxi.-xxiv.), and for the book of the Acts, 
that of the two years' imprisonment of the Apostle at 
Rome (xxviii. 30.) Tholuck in his Glaubtuilrdigkeit der 
Evangelischen Geschichte, S. 141, thus expresses himself: 
" Wie nahe lag es nun fur diesen, den ruhigen Aufenthalt 
in der Hauptstadt und die grossere Musze zur Abfassung 
seiner Apostelgeschichte zu benutzen, und wie sehr gewinnt 
noch diese Annahme an Wahrscheinlichkeit, wenn wir der 
gegebenen Ansicht beitreten, welche das Evangelium wahr- 
end der anderthalb Jahre abgefaszt seyn laszt, wo Lukas 
ebenfalls in der Nahe des zu Jerusalem gefangen genom- 
menen Paulus, entweder in der Hauptstadt von Palastina 
oder in dem ganz nahen Casarea blieb. Dasz in diese Zeit 
die Abfassung des Evangelium's falle, hat gewisz viel fur 
sich, denn wo hatte Lukas eher an die Ausfuhrung dieses 
Ilnternehmens denken konnen, als in Palastina, wo 
schriftliche Berichte und Augenzeugen der Begebenheiten 
Jesu in so groszer Menge zur Hand waren \ Hat er aber 
in dieser Gefangenschaft das Evangelium fur seinen 
Theophilus abgefaszt, so gewinnt er nur desto groszere 
Wahrscheinlichkeit, dasz die andere ebenso lange Gefan- 



460 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

genschaft ihn zur Abfassung eines ahnlichen Werkes 
aufforderte, so dasz beide Annahinen sich wechselseitig 
unterstiitzen." 1 

The Gospels of St Matthew and St Mark bear less 
clearly in themselves any such recognisable mark of the 
precise epoch at which they were written. But according 
to the notices given by Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, 
and Jerome, St Mark wrote his Gospel not only from the 
information supplied by St Peter, but during that Apostle's 
life-time, and certainly, as we have remarked on various 
occasions, the influence of the latter on the Gospel of his 
S07i in the faith, is not simply that of an already deceased 
predecessor, but of a living and present informant. The 
only one of the Fathers of the Church who seems to place 
the publication or delivery to the Churches of that Gospel 
after the death of St Peter, is Irenseus, where he writes 

thus : Mera Se rr)v tovtcov (Tlerpov kclI TlavXov) e^oSov, 
Map/cos, 6 jjLa9r)Tr)<; kcu epfjbr)vevrr}<$ Tlerpov, ra vito Tlerpov 
Krjpvaaofjueva eyypd<f>cd<; rjficv irapeScoKe : in which passage, 
however, by e&Sos it is not necessary to suppose that de- 
parture out of this life is meant, for departure from the 
city or the country may be all that is implied. The reader 

1 " How convenient was it for him to take advantage of his quiet stay in the 
capital, and the greater leisure he enjoyed, for the composition of his Apostolic 
history ; and how much more likely does this supposition become, if we enter- 
tain the idea which some have suggested, that the Gospel was compiled during 
the year and a half when Luke remained in like manner in the neighbourhood 
of Paul when imprisoned at Jerusalem, either at the capital of Palestine, or at 
Caesarea, whicli lay quite at hand. The idea that the Gospel was composed at 
that time has much to be said for it ; for where could Luke have sooner thought 
of the execution of his design than in Palestine, where he must have had ready 
access to such a number both of written memorials and eyewitnesses ? But if he 
really composed the Gospel for his friend Theophilus during that imprisonment, 
the probability is all the greater, that the other equally long imprisonment 
should have stimulated him to the composition of a similar work, so that the 
two suppositions mutnalty support each other." 



THE FOUE WITNESSES. 461 

may compare Grotius in his Introduction on St Mark. 
However this may be, the notice we haye in Irenseus has 
nothing in it so very certain and explicit, as of itself to 
outweigh those supplied by other Fathers of the Church : 
all the less, too, as the most ancient testimony, that of 
Papias, from the mouth of John the Presbyter, contains 
nothing decisive on this accessary question. 

The epoch at which St Matthew wrote his Gospel is 
fixed by some at fifteen, by others at eight years after 
the resurrection and ascension of the Lord ; Irenseus 
places it later : but none of these external testimonies 
gainsays the conclusion we come to from the internal 
structure of the first two Gospels — that the Gospel of St 
Matthew was both known to St Mark and assumed by him 
as the basis of his own. 

In treating of the epoch at which the Gospels were 
successively published, the question with respect to the 
place of publication has commonly been taken up, and 
is naturally associated with that of the time. It being 
generally admitted that St Matthew wrote his Gospel in 
Palestine, and specially at Jerusalem, we have strong 
grounds for regarding it as probable, that that Gospel 
which is peculiarly Israelitish should have first seen the 
light in the Jewish capital. With respect to that of St 
Mark, the balance lies between Rome and Alexandria, 
although the weight of evidence is evidently on the side 
of the former of those great cities. There also, as we 
have observed, St Luke's historical work was finished. 
As for the Gospel of St John, the no less widely renowned 
and wealthy city of Ephesus has been considered with 
sufficient unanimity as the place of its first publication. 
Hug's idea (in his Einleitung, 2ten Th. S. 67-69), that 
St John composed his Gospel in the island of Patmos, 



462 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

and that from thence he sent it, with a letter of intro- 
duction (his first Epistle), to his cherished Church at 
Ephesus, harmonizes fully with the general impression 
that has again and again been enunciated with respect to 
the epoch of its composition. Be that as it may, the 
four Gospels of our Lord were published in the three 
great capitals which we have mentioned, of the Israelitish, 
Greek, and Roman world. Verily, in this sense also, we 
may apply the Apostle's saying : These things have not 
been done in a corner. (Acts of the Apostles, xxvi. 26.) 



P. 300 — " As for what concerns the Apocalypse — 
fourth Gospel." 

There is not in all the Scriptures any book with regard 
to which historical testimonies give a more unanimous con- 
firmation of its genuineness, than the Revelation of St 
John. The very impugners of that genuineness (parti- 
cularly Dr Lucke) are constrained to acknowledge this. 
Whence, then, does there arise any doubt as to a genu- 
ineness which becomes so visible and palpable, on our 
perceiving the manifold and striking harmonies between 
the Gospel and the Revelation, some of which we have 
cursorily noticed \ Why, in our apprehension, because, 
notwithstanding all the unity existing between the two 
writings, a very manifest difference, too, cannot be denied. 
But this very difference is just of that kind that serves to 
put in stronger relief the identity of the author, in the 
difference of his theme and his point of view. In the 
Gospel, St John is the witness testifying of things that 
have already taken place ; in the Revelation, he is the 
prophet foretelling things yet to come. In the Gospel, 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 463 

the kingdom of Christ, the judgment of God, even at 
times the resurrection of believers, are with him, in con- 
trast with the synoptical Evangelists, something pro- 
foundly inward, spiritual, and individual ; in the Revela- 
tion, he delineates and announces to us those same things 
in the external, visible, and still future glory of the Lord 
and his elect. 

It was in the very nature of things, too, that in his his- 
torical Gospel, St John should merely indicate who he 
was, and that in his prophetical Revelation he should 
expressly name himself (i. 9), / John. Thus, too, did 
the writers of the Old Testament. Not the historians, 
but the prophets in Israel put their names at the head of 
their writings. 

The differences of language and of style which have 
often been appealed to, as invalidating an identity of 
origin in the two writings, bear upon the subject in an 
analogous manner. For, not to say that the examina- 
tions that have been made, both by Winer and even by 
Liicke, have led to these differences, being found far less 
considerable than had been formerly thought, they may 
fully be accounted for, by the fact of the latter of the two 
compositions adhering to the language of Israel! s prophets. 
Hug, with his ever acute perception, long ago perceived 
something of this kind, and says in his Einleitung (Th. 2, S. 
189) : "Was aber weiter die Sprache des Buches betrifft, 
so ist sie weniger die Sprache des Johannes selbst als die 
der Propheten. Da, wo er aber selbst redet, muszte er 
sich nothwendig bemuhen, ihrer Schreibart und Diction so 
sehr es moglich war, nahe zukommen, urn die Gleichfbr- 
michkeit des Tones zu erhalten. Diejenigen konnen also 
recht haben, welche behaupten, die Apocalypse habe den 
styl des Johannes nicht ; nur miissen sie sich hut en, ihni 



464 NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 

clarum das Buch abzusprechen, welches absichtlich aus 
freniden Bildern ztisammengesetzt 1st* 1 

Meanwhile, we have already seen, in our analysis of 
St John's Gospel, that same combination of Greek and 
Hebrew which in still ampler measure characterizes the 
Revelation. We have likewise seen, in our remarks on 
St John, how deeply even his Gospel is penetrated with 
the prophetic spirit which developes itself in all its ful- 
ness in the Revelation. Here let us but think again 
of the last part of the 21st chapter of the Gospel. On 
the other hand, we have uniformly found in St John the 
Prophet, the evident fundamental traits of the same St 
John the Evangelist. 



Page 375 — "St Marl describes the locality more 

&c. 



St Matthew, on the other hand, is more precise here 
than St Mark ; for he distinguishes (v. 58), more or 
less, two successive moments in St Peter's progress — 
first, his advancing unto — that is, as far as — the high 
priest's palace, then his going into the palace. These 
two steps in Peter's progress are afterwards explained with 
more detail by St John (xviii. 15, 16), where we read 
that Simon Peter followed Jesus with another disciple 
who went in with Jesus into the palace ; whilst Peter still 



1 "As for what further relates to the diction of the book, it is certainly less the 
diction of John than that of the prophets. Even where he himself speaks, he 
he must have necessarily endeavoured to adopt their style and diction to the 
utmost, in order to preserve the uniformity of tone with theirs. Those, accord- 
ingly, may be in the right who maintain, that the Revelation has not the style 
of St John : only, they must guard against refusing to ascribe to him on that 
account a book which is designedly composed of foreign (Hebrew) images." 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 465 

remained for some time outside, until that other disciple 
had spoken to the damsel that kept the door, and thus 
brought in Peter along with him. 



REMARKS ON THE NARRATIVES OF OUR LORD'S BURIAL AND 
RESURRECTION. 

In order to avoid unnecessarily adding to the bulk of 
this volume, we have confined ourselves in the 7th chap- 
ter to the history of our Lord's passion, without going 
into that of his burial and resurrection. In fact, the 
history of the passion was sufficient, in point of extent 
and minuteness, to attain of itself the end which we con- 
templated — that of closing the exposition of our theory of 
the distinctive characters and true harmony of the four 
Gospels, by selecting a portion of the Evangelical history 
ample enough for testing its applicability to the whole. 
One has now but to proceed according to the same 
method, in order to obtain the same results with respect 
to the entire contents of the writings of out four inspired 
tuitnesses. We willingly add, however, some feiv further 
observations, with the view of shewing how all that has 
been said in detail on the narratives of the passion, is 
susceptible of absolutely the same application to the 
several accounts that have been left us of the burial and 
the resurrection of Jesus. 

Thus, for example, we see the special character of each 
of the four Evangelists manifested in the different manners 
in which they severally characterize Joseph of Arimathea. 
St Matthew, making an allusion to the prophecy of Isaiah 
(liii. 9), calls him a rich man. In St Mark he is desig- 
nated by the use of a known Roman term, according to 
his dignified position, an honourable counsellor (Gr, 

2 c T 



466 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

evafflfjuov ; Lat. honestus). St Luke, himself a good and 
a just man, calls him good andjust, and specially remarks 
that he had not consented to the counsel and deed of the 
Jews against Jesus. Both St Mark and St Luke mention 
that he waited for the kingdom of God, while St Luke 
further adds an elucidation with respect to the place to 
which he belonged : Arimathea, a city of the Jevjs. 
Both St Matthew and St John call him a disciple of 
Jesus ; but the latter of these Evangelists does not do 
so without adding that he had been so, till then, only 
secretly, for fear of the Jews. 

In like manner, in the account of the Lord's burial, St 
Matthew gives an indication of his Israelitic point of 
view, among other things, by the mention, which we find 
only in him, of all that passed between the high priests 
and the Pharisees and Pilate with respect to the watch 
set over the sepulchre (Matth. 27-66). It is more than 
probable that these communings took place while it was 
yet but Friday evening; for otherwise a whole night 
must have passed without the sepulchre being watched, 
and the precautions of the Jews could have had no suffi- 
cient end. But St Matthew, ever in conformity with the 
Israelitic character of his Gospel, considers Friday evening 
as the day itself following that of the preparation, — that 
is, as the Sabbath itself. — St Mark, among other particulars 
pertaining to him, and sometimes indicated by a single 
word, 1 informs us of a very remarkable circumstance, 
with respect to the death of the Lord Jesus, by observing 
(xx. 44, 45) how Pilate marvelled if he were already 
dead, and how it was only after having had precise in- 
formation on that point from the centurion, that he gave 

1 Compare the remark on Mark xv. 43 (he went BOLDLY in ; Gr. roXfxrjaas). 
pp. 96, 97. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 467 

orders for the Lord's body being delivered to Joseph. 
It appears at the same time, from a comparison of this 
passage with that in St John (xix. 31), that Joseph of 
Arimathea's request to the governor that he might have 
the body of Jesus, was presented between the moment 
when the Jews besought that the bones of those that had 
been crucified might be broken, and the giving effect to 
that request. — St Luke distinguishes himself here parti- 
cularly by the mention of the rest observed by the women 
on the Sabbath day according to the commandment (xxiii. 
56) after having bought and prepared the spices and 
ointments ; so that it is with good reason that, in the 
translations, the aorist employed by St Mark (xvi. 1) has 
the pluperfect meaning given to it — (had bought). St 
John again here characterizes his narrative by the intro- 
duction, among others, of a new personage : to wit, 
Nicodemus, in company with his colleague, Joseph of 
Arimathea, and by the express mention of the quantity of 
pounds of myrrh and aloes brought by that excellent 
senator for the Lord's burial (xix. 39, 40). x 

As respects the evangelical accounts of the Lord's re- 
surrection, the application of our system of harmony leads 
to the perfect solution of a difficulty which has in all ages 
been strongly urged by the adversaries of the historical 
truth of the Gospels, and which, in so far as we can see, has 
not found an absolutely satisfactory reply on the part of 
the defenders of that truth. We allude to the apparent 
contradiction between what we are told by St Matthew 
(xxviii. 9) of the women on their return from the sepul- 
chre being the first who met with the Lord after his 
resurrection, and St Mark's very positively affirming (xvi. 
9) that the Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene. 

1 Compare pp. 257, 259, and 278. 



468 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

According to the theory which we have developed, no- 
thing is more simple than the agreement between the two 
narratives. St Matthew, according to his usual custom, 
uses the plural, which St Mark, equally according to what 
was his usual practice, brings back to its true signification 
by naming that one in particular among the women to 
whose lot it fell first to behold the risen Lord. The 
women in St Matthew 1 expresses, in a general way, what 
St Mark and after him St John (xx. 11-18) apply 
with the clearest and most minute preciseness to Mary 
Magdalene, who had formed part of the company of the 
women that came into the sepulchre the very morning of 
the resurrection, but who, in consequence of the particu- 
lar circumstances recorded by St John (xx. 1-10), had 
separated from the rest, in order to run to the disciples 
with the news of the sepulchre being found empty, and 
had afterwards returned with them and remained after 
them. 

In the further application of the principles of harmony 
established in this work, to the series and the order of 
the different circumstances of which the account of the 
Lord's resurrection is composed, one will arrive without 
difficulty at the following result : 1. Two angels descend 
from heaven, before the earliest gleam of dawn, to remove 
the stone from the sepulchre from which He who had 
triumphed over sin and death was to come forth. 2. The 
keepers, terrified at this apparition, flee, and communicate 
what has happened to the chief priests, who bribe them 
with money to circulate a false report (according to St 
Matthew). 3. [The precise moment of the resurrection 

1 The words : " as they went to tell his disciples," ought to be considered here 
as only one of those forms of transition frequently occurring in St Matthew's 
Gospel. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 469 

is told us by none of the Evangelists. The fact (in virtue 
of a respectful sobriety which may be considered as the 
exclusive attribute of our sacred writings) is mentioned 
only in recording what took place subsequently to it, or 
in stating the consequences which necessarily resulted 
from it]. 4. A party of women, among whom was Mary 
Magdalene, had gone before daybreak to the sepulchre 
(according to all four Evangelists). 5. They find the 
stone taken away and the sepulchre open (according to 
St Mark, St Luke, and St John). 6. Mary Magdalene 
separates from the rest, and runs to Peter and John 
(according to St John). 7. The rest of the women go 
into the sepulchre, where the angels announce to them 
the Lord's resurrection. They return with this news to 
the disciples (according to the synoptical Gospels). 8. 
Mary Magdalene, during this interval, returns to the se- 
pulchre, accompanied by Peter and John (according to 
St John). 9. The two disciples enter the sepulchre, and 
find the linen clothes laid by themselves (according to St 
Luke and St John). 10. Mary Magdalene remains near 
the sepulchre weeping, and, stooping down towards the 
inside, sees the angels, who address her (according to St 
John). 11. Jesus himself reveals himself to her, and she 
recognises him (according to St Mark and St John). 12. 
She announces to the disciples that she has seen the Lord 
(according to St Mark and St John) ; but, 13. Without 
finding credence from them in their sorrow. 14. Jesus 
shews himself that same day to two disciples on their 
way to Emmaus (according to St Luke, and St Mark xvi. 
15). The two disciples, on their return in the evening, 
communicate to the eleven the interview which they had 
been privileged to enjoy. 16. They learn that the Lord 
had already appeared to Simon Peter (according to St 



470 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

Luke). 17. The Lord's appearing to the eleven apostles 
in the absence of Thomas (according to the Synoptics com- 
pared with St John). 18. His appearing to the apostles, 
Thomas being present (according to St John). 19. His 
appearing to the Apostles and the disciples in Galilee 
(according to St John at the 21st chapter, where it would 
seem that the same appearance of the Lord is meant as 
that which St Matthew has in view at chap, xxviii., ver. 
16 and 17; and St Paul, 1 Cor. xv 6). 20. Last in- 
terview of the Lord with the apostles and disciples at 
Jerusalem and Bethany (according to the synoptical 
Gospels, Matth. xxviii. 20 ; Mark xv. 1 6-1 8 ; Luke xxiv. 
46-49). 21. The ascension of Jesus to heaven forty 
days after his resurrection (Mark xvi. 19; Luke xxiv. 50, 
51 ; Acts i. 1-9). 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 471 



We think, that at the conclusion of a work on the 
harmony of the four Gospels, it may not be out of place 
to treat in a few lines of the important questions that 
have arisen with regard to the two different genealogies 
of our Lord, as given by St Matthew (i. 1-16), and by 
St Luke (iii. 23-38). To that end we offer here the 
following 



REMARKS ON THE TWO GENEALOGIES OF THE SAVIOUR 
IN ST MATTHEW AND ST LUKE. 

The difference between the two genealogies in St Matthew 
and St Luke has been warmly assailed from the earliest 
ages by the enemies of the gospel. In our own days, 
especially since the appearance of Schleierniacher's Essay 
on the Gospel of St Luke, it belongs, according to the judg- 
ment of some learned men, to the irreconcilable variations 
between the two Gospels. But untenable and irrecon- 
cilable are, within the domain of the theological science 
of our days, terms about which it is not absolutely neces- 
sary that we should allow ourselves to be disquieted. 
With several of the truths that have been declared un- 
tenable by our modern critics, it is almost as with those 
generals of the enemy w r ho, after being slain in the 
bulletins of Napoleon, were found all alive and well on 
his own territory. 

From the first, the totally different genealogies in St 
Matthew (i. 1-16), and in St Luke (iii. 3-38), have been 
explained in two ways. According to some, we have in 
St Matthew the genealogy of Joseph only, while the gene- 
alogy in St Luke must be that of Mary. According to 



472 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

others, we have in St Luke, as well as in St Matthew, 
the ancestors of Joseph ; but these, in the Gospel of St 
Luke, are given in the natural line, that is to say, so as 
that, by natural generation, Joseph actually traced his 
origin from David by Nathan ; in St Matthew's Gospel, 
on the contrary, so as that, by the lineage of Solomon, he 
was descended from that same family-chief David, by a 
merely legal descent, or in other words, through the inter- 
vention of marriages according to the lavj of the Levirate. 
For ourselves, we hesitate not to declare in favour of the 
last of these views. But before proceeding to the proof, 
we would first demonstrate the incompleteness of the 
other attempt to solve the difficulty, by supposing that in 
St Luke we have the genealogy of Mary. 

It is utterly impossible that the genealogy of the Gospel 
of St Luke can have any connexion with Mary. The 
terms used by that Evangelist (iii. 23), are clear, and 
admit of no other signification but this very simple and 
plain one : Jesus was (as was supposed, or rather, as he 
was considered in the eye of the law, Gr. evofil&ro), the 
son of Joseph, the son of Heli (rod r H\l). 

To understand by this expression a relationship of 
father-in-law and son-in-laiv between Heli and Joseph, is 
irreconcilable with all usages alike Greek and Hebrew * 
but it would involve the further consequence, that the 
same relationship should subsist between all the other 
persons named in the genealogy, which would be absurd. 
As little can we admit another forced construction which 
has been attempted, in order to make out that Mary was 
the daughter of Heli, and which is this : Jesus was supposed 
to be the son of Joseph ; but he really was a son, that is 
to say, a grandson of Heli, which Heli is then to be held 
the father of Mary. The whole genealogy in St Luke 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 4/3 

presents a succession from father to son : the idea neither 
of son-in-law, nor of grandson, can be expressed by the 
article tov in the first step of the series, any more than in 
those that are beyond it. It is observed solely and exclu- 
sively with respect to the relationship between Jesus and 
Joseph, that it was not a natural relationship, but &)? 
evojJLL&To. 

But we have yet more to say. Nowhere in either of 
the two Gospels do we find it said, that the virgin Mary 
was herself descended from David. 

In St Matthew, Joseph is most particularly put on the 
foreground by the side of Mary. This would make it less 
strange should no mention be made of the descent of 
Mary from David in this first Evangelist. But St Luke 
also, who, with respect to Mary, introduces so many details 
in the account he has given us of the Lord's conception, 
birth, and infancy — St Luke, too, nowhere attributes to 
Mary a descent from David. Quite the contrary ! he 
evidently excludes her from that descent, in contra-clis- 
tinction from her husband Joseph. One has only to read 
chap. i. 26, 27 : And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel 
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 
to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, 
of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 
And, chap. ii. 4, 5 : And Joseph also went up from Galilee, 
out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of 
David, which is called Bethlehem; because he was of the 
house and lineage of David (Gr. Sia ro elvat 'ATTON), 
to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, she being great 
with child. If ever the rule that the inclusion of the one 
is the necessary exclusion of the other, is admissible, it is 
certainly in such a connexion. 

But what puts an end to all uncertainty in this ques- 



474 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 



tion is, that in this same Gospel the true descent of the 
mother is clearly indicated to us. In the message of the 
angel, Mary is called in express terms the cousin of Elisa- 
beth (i. 36). Now, this name of cousin (Gr. avyy evrjs) 
can haye no other signification in the original but that of 
descendant of the same family in the male line, that is 
to say, in descent from the same male ancestor. 1 Here, 
then, in a more limited sense, but one quite the same in 
kind, Mary and Elisabeth are called cousins, because they 
were of the same tribe. 

If, then, the tribe of Elisabeth be known to us, we 
know also that of Mary. But St Luke has told us in so 
many words what the descent of Elisabeth was (i. 5) : 
The wife of Zacharias (was) of the daughters of Aaron; 
and her name was Elisabeth, 

Christ, accordingly, was not of the race of David by his 
mother \ No ! and this, moreover, was not necessary in 
order to the fulfilment of the prophecy that the Messiah 
should be born of the house of David ; for this very 
simple reason, that in Israel descent by the mother's side 
was not taken into consideration in making out the tribe 
to which a man belonged. The rule laid down by the 
Rabbins on this point, is the simple result of all that the 
Bible teaches and assumes with regard to it. 2 

What then 1 Shall we have no alternative but Strauss's 
dilemma ? " If Jesus be of the tribe of David, then he 
can be so only through Joseph ; but in that case, the fact 






1 AMMONIUS in 'AyxioTevy. " 'Evyyevels ol ovres e/c rov avrov yevovs, 
TEN0Y2. It is in the same sense of extraction from the same masculine 
ancestors that St Paul calls all the Israelites his avyyevels (Rom. ix. 3 ; comp. 
xvi. 7, 11, 21, and the note of Bengel on ver. 5, 7. Erant JudceV} 

a Bava Bathra, f. 110, 2, nnjws jvnp n*tt dn mars nntwt nvnpriN m&tm-. The 
descent on the father 's side only shall be called a man's descent ; the descent by 
the mother is not called any descent. 



THE FOUK WITNESSES. 475 

of his being conceived by the Holy Ghost must fall to the 
ground. If, on the contrary, he was conceived of the 
Holy Ghost, and not by Joseph, then his descent from 
David falls to the ground, seeing that that descent appears 
in the Gospels to have belonged to Joseph, but not to 
Mary." 

For ever be such a conclusion far from us ! Nay, both 
truths stand equally unshaken — that of the Saviour's 
descent from David, and that of his conception by the 
Holy Ghost. The solution of the apparent difficulty lies 
in our having a correct and a complete idea of what con- 
stituted descent, according to the flesh, m conformity with 
views truly Israelitic, and with the institutions and the 
will of God. 

In the patriarchal world, and, after that, in the Israelite 
world, the woman who was given in marriage — (let the 
comparison be understood in a manner becoming the 
sacredness of the subject) — was viewed as a living posses- 
sion, bearing fruit to the husband. Hence the expression 
we meet with every where : She bore him sons and 
daughters. The children belonged to the father — belonged 
to him just as the fruit of his field did ; but they did not 
belong to him simply as an individual, but, through him, 
to his whole tribe and race. The fruit of a married 
woman's womb was a blessing in the house of her husband : 
it was a blessing by the propagation of his name and pos- 
terity in Israel. Hence, when a husband died without 
having left children, the obligation imposed by the law of 
Moses on the brother of the deceased to raise up a pos- 
terity by the widow, not for himself, but for his deceased 
brother; that is to say, to propagate that brother's pos- 
terity, and to possess his heritage. That same law was, 
by a legal extension, applied to relatives more remote, 



476 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO 

but always of the same tribe and family, as clearly appears 
by the history of Ruth and Boaz. Compare Michaelis, 
Mosaisch Eecht, ii. § 98. 

Now, this first-born Son, whom Mary brought forth at 
a time when she was engaged by the marriage-bond to 
Joseph, belonged (so far as related to the Saviour's human 
origin and the law of Israel) to Joseph, and, through him 
to the race of David and the tribe of Judah. 

But then, what are we to think with respect to his 
conception by the Holy Ghost % Why, that it alters not in 
one jot or tittle the legal relationship of the Son, borne by 
Mary to her husband Joseph. Mary was, and remained 
throughout, the field blessed by God, which bore its fruit 
to the house of David, to a son of David (in Matth. chap, 
i. 20, Joseph is so named by the angel with an evident 
emphasis). Being conceived, however, not according to the 
ordinary laws of nature, but by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, without human intervention ; the fruit of Mary's 
womb was on that account not an ordinary man, or simply 
a man, but a man-God. Our Lord Jesus Christ accordingly 
had his incarnation by the Holy Ghost, his humanity by 
Mary his mother, his right and his name as a Son of 
David by Joseph, in conformity with the Israelitic laws 
and institutions. It is then in consequence of this real 
(that is to say, legal) relationship, and not merely from a 
mistaken notion among men, that Jesus is called again and 
again in Scripture the Son of Joseph (Luke ii. 41, and espe • 
cially 48; John i. 46). 

We find the same point very clearly decided, as it 
appears to us, by Wetstein, in the following manner (on 
Matth. i. 16): "When, however, from the statements 
immediately subjoined by St Matthew, it is evident that 
Jesus was not the son of Joseph according to the ordinary 



THE FOUR WITNESSES. 477 

course of nature, it follows that we must understand him 
to have been so by adoption." And again : " When 
Joseph had received Mary his wife, and Jesus as a son 
and heir, given to him by God, it is manifest that Jesus 
entered into his family by insertion. Unless this be 
admitted, to what family can he be referred, seeing that 
females (among the Jews) were never entered on the 
genealogical rolls ; and, assuredly, if a male child born to 
Joseph and Mary after consummated wedlock would most 
assuredly have been regarded as belonging to the pedigree 
of Joseph, so far must a miraculous intervention have 
been from deteriorating the condition of a child not so 
born, and of nullifying his claim to the family title, that 
the rather on this very account must he have been regarded 
with the strictest propriety as having preserved every 
natural right and claim full and unimpaired." 1 

Such, precisely, is what may be called a holy Levirate, 
acted upon by the Holy Ghost with respect to Joseph. 
It is clear, when we speak thus, that we mean only 
by an analogy (agreement in principle). That analogy 
is now manifest. The principle lies in the relation of 
each Israelite, and his offspring, to his tribe and his 
family. A husband in Israel leaves a wife without 
children. His brother, or his near relation, of the same 
tribe (agnate), is obliged to raise- up children for the 



1 " Cum autem ex iis quag mox a Matthseo subjiciuntur, constet Jesum non 
fuisse filium Josephi naturalem, consequens est ut intelligamus filiura adoptivum. 
* * * Cum Josephus Mariam uxorem et Jesum filium et heredem a Deo 
datum accepisset, mauifestum est Jesum in ipsius familiam insertum fuisse. 
Quod nisi admittatur, ad quam familiam referetur, cum maternum genus (apud 
Judasos) IN CENSUM NON VENIAT? Imo, cum puer, matrimonio inter Josephum 
et Mariam consummate- natus, certissime ex genere Josephi fuisset, tantum 
aberat, ut per miraculum interveniens fieret deterioris conditionis et nullius 
familiar, ut hoc ipso potius, omnia jura, quae natura dedisset, salva atque integra 
servasse merito sit existimandus." 



478 



NOTES AND ADDITIONS TQ 



heritage, and for the name of the deceased. Such was 
the human Levirate in Israel. But in the case before us, 
in a sense infinitely higher, and yet equally true, neither 
Joseph, nor any human being, is in a condition to raise 
up for the house of David Him who, in order to the 
accomplishment of the prophecy, could be called, and who 
was Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us. The Holy 
Ghost stretched his vivifying wings over the espoused wife 
of the descendant of David, his legitimate heir ; and the 
fruit thus conceived, when brought forth by Mary, belonged 
to the man to whom she had been given in marriage. 
That holy thing, divinely implanted in the field which 
belongs to Joseph, belongs no less (according to a genea- 
logical relationship in Israel) to Joseph, and through him 
to David and Judah. It is true, then, and an actual fact, 
that our Lord sprang out of Judah (Heb. vii. 14), that He 
is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root and the Off- 
spring of David (Rev. v.), not by the flesh and blood which 
he held from his mother, but by Divine implantation, in 
the marriage of that virgin with the heir of David, ac- 
cording to the well-known rule of law : He is the father, 
to whom marriage points. 1 

And it is precisely on this account that in a gospel of 
the birth of Jesus Christ, we had no need to make out 
any genealogy but that of Joseph. We find, accordingly, 
such a genealogical list both in St Matthew and in St 
Luke. But wherefore, then, this double genealogy ? and 
wherefore does the one list differ from the other? To 
this difficulty also, the ancient Israelitic Levirate supplies 
the key. 

It is known from what different points of view, and in 
what different relationships, the different genealogical lists 

1 Pater est quern nuptke demonstrant. 



THE FOUR WITNESSES, 479 

were anciently written in Israel. 1 Nothing, at all events, 
is more natural than a double genealogy of the same per- 
son, if, in the history of the genealogy, a Leviratic marriage 
intervenes once, or more than once. And in that case, can 
we well imagine a less violent explanation of the tw r o differ- 
ent genealogical registers of the same son of David, Joseph 
to wit, than that the Royal or Solomonic line should have 
been extinguished at different times by childless marriages, 
and re-established and kept up on each such occasion, by 
virtue of the law of the Levirate \ And further, is it not 
perfectly in harmony with the whole plan of the two 
Gospels, that St Matthew (the Evangelist of the royalty 
of Jesus) should have given us the legal descent, or that 
by Solomon ; St Luke, on the contrary (the historical 
Evangelist), that by Nathan, that is to say, the natural 
descent of Joseph \ 

But is not this genealogy in St Matthew so drawn up, 
that, owing to the small number of generations between 
David and Joseph, it remains, after all, historically irrecon- 
cilable with that in St Luke ? Here, too, the peculiar 
character of Israelitic usage explains all. That people's 
genealogies have not always for their object to give a 
regular succession from generation to generation, from 
father to son, but only to furnish proofs of the descent of 
an individual, or of a family, from some family chief, or 
patriarch, from whom his descendants inherited an interest 
in some privilege or promise on the part of God. In the 
genealogy given by St Matthew, all bears on Christ's 
descent from David, from Abraham (Matth. i. 1). It need 
be no matter of surprise, then, that in an ulterior develop- 
ment several intermediate names should be found omitted. 

1 The reader may consult, among other authors on this subject, the Thesis of 
Surcnhusius, cle modi? explicandi fjenealogias. in his BljSKos- KaraAAayJ??. 



O ' 



480 NOTES AND ADDITIONS TO THE FOUR WITNESSES. 

The catalogue indicates clearly enough the points of main 
importance. And that once admitted, what difficulty 
can there be in supposing, that the genealogical list bor- 
rowed by St Matthew from the family of Joseph (what- 
ever may have been the reason that some names have not 
been recorded in it), should be capable of being divided 
by St Matthew, reckoning from Abraham to Christ, into 
three sets of fourteen generations each 1 

We have then, as a final result, both in St Matthew and 
in St Luke, according to their own expressive terms, the 
genealogy of Joseph ; but in St Matthew his legal descent 
from David by the Levirate in the royal or Solomonic 
line ; in St Luke, the natural descent of Joseph from the 
same patriarch David in the Nathanic line ; in St 
Matthew, so to speak, by way of extract, but at the 
same time with remarks intercalated by the Apostle (in 
naming the women, for example, who ordinarily are not 
noticed in the genealogy) ; in St Luke in a simple but 
continued line from Jesus, by Joseph, David, Abraham, 
and Adam, up to God (Luke iii. 23 38). 



THE END. 



BALLANTYNE, PRINTER, EDINBURGH. 



,<^yt*4^P^n0^tj/ 



